The Word 'Traitor'
by ArminaSkitty
Summary: Shikamaru, shunned by the village, has to battle for his life against Itachi, and during the course of that battle the Rogue Uchiha is forced to admit to himself that that Nara certainly is something else....
1. The First Meeting

The Word 'Traitor'

Disclaimer: Does anyone even bother noting the disclaimer anymore? Meh, not going to bother. I OWN ITACHI AND SHIKAMARU! I shove in a locked room together naked on a regular basis! Go ahead, try and stop me! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!

Lawyers: Good day Ms. Skitty, we represent Mr.(insert name here at later edit) and we'd like to talk to you abou-

A.S.: Ulp! I own nothing! I never really said I did and I most certainly don't make any money off of this stuff, it's just for fun!

Lawyer: Good, make sure it stays that way.

Author Notes: Itachi and the plot bunnies made me make this, don't blame me for it.

A while back, I did a random search on FF (dot) net featuring Shikamaru and Itachi as the main characters. Don't ask, I don't remember why. What happened though was that I found a fic that was an ItaShika, and those blasted, annoying, needs-to-be-fixed plot bunnies started breeding again! And then that thrice-blasted Itachi got hooked on a couple of the ideas and Would. Not. Stop. _Bugging_. Me about 'em. So I gave in and wrote 'em down. Blame him, it's his fault.

The set-up back plot of this fic was inspired by Healing Eyes, I then took the idea, tweaked and made the beginnings of an epic from that short story. If you like this, you might like that other fic, just look up the title, or search with Itachi and Shikamaru as the mains. There's a whole four stories like that, you can't miss Healing Eyes. Well, enjoy and don't hurt me too bad, n'kay?

Oh yeah, this will be a yaoi, eventually. If you don't like, don't read, simple as that. But go ahead and give it a shot and broaden your mind. Who knows, you might become a Gay marriage advocate like me. Because (pardon me for getting preachy) homosexual relationship don't hurt anyone, as long as it's consensual, so… how does two guys loving each other equal a Bad Thing again?

(bar thingy ain't working just now)

Hot blood trickled down from a long shallow graze on the Chuunin's side to mingle with the sweat that seemed to be pouring down his body. Breath came in harsh, ragged rasps and exhaustion threatened to blur his vision constantly. But he wouldn't back down, _couldn't_ back down. Not when his opponent was Uchiha Itachi. Even if he who was fighting was only Nara Shikamaru and he was entirely alone….

The day had started off bad, and had only gotten worse as it had progressed. Shikamaru was beginning to get used to this pattern ever since it had started with that botched retrieval mission. Shikamaru's own guilt at the way the mission had turned out had been bad enough, but then came the criticism from his superiors.

The leader of a team should not come back with only a broken finger when the rest of his team comes back nearly dead. Never mind that Shikamaru had faced a Jounin-level Genjutsu user and an illusion vs. shadow battle was decided by chakra usage rather than physical damage. And also ignore the fact that _after_ the shadow user had assured himself that his team would live, he'd passed out for three days and couldn't be woken as he recovered from chakra over-expenditure.

Godaime didn't blame him; neither did most of the Jounin sensei. But many of the parents of his team did, as did the older Chuunins and Jounins. No excuse was good enough for them. And to add insult to injury, he had failed. Failed even though he'd gotten further back up in the form of Rock Lee and the Sand Sibs.

Shikamaru had been suspended from being a team leader for three months, but what with Konoha being under-manned it hadn't taken longer than that for him to be placed as leader again. In an effort to redeem himself, he'd insured that all of his missions ended in success and that his teams came out as unscathed as possible, no matter the cost to himself.

He may as well not have bothered. Even on the numerous occasions where he came back half-dead while his team was barely scratched, the sneers, superior looks and meant-to-be-overheard criticism continued. The final straw for Shikamaru's self-esteem came in the form of those same sneers and criticisms coming from those who had been his friends.

Kiba, Shino, Tenten, Sakura, Neji, Lee, one after another the condescension came. Even Ino and, more painfully, Chouji followed the flow. Only Hinata, who was too kind and soft-spoken to criticize, and Naruto held out. And only Naruto had supported him, stating loudly and firmly that Shikamaru had kept his team alive even though they had fought against five Jounin-level Sound nin, and they had only been four Genin and one inexperienced Chuunin.

But Naruto was gone now, having left on a training trip with Jiraiya. Which was why Shikamaru was now facing Itachi.

The shadow user had just successfully completed another multi-day, C-ranked mission with two Genins as his team. Two Genins who were twenty-eight and thirty-one, and who deeply resented the fact that a mere thirteen-year-old was of higher rank than they. Shikamaru was exhausted, and not because of the mission itself, which had been a mere medicinal herb retrieval.

After bearing with snide comments for three days and making his report while ignoring further comments and sidelong superior glares, he had made his way to his new favorite cloud-watching hill. This one was in one of the farther flung training fields, at the extreme outer edge of the Konoha city proper. His prior hill had been much nearer the inner city and therefore it had been much easier for him to be found and harassed.

After flinging himself onto the slope of his hill and forcing his body to relax and his mind to not think, Shikamaru felt that he might live through another day. That lasted only ten minutes until a stranger had disturbed his peace. This stranger with dark hair and dark eyes, high chakra level and vaguely familiar features had made light conversation that had swiftly grazed over Shikamaru's reputation before lighting onto the shadow user's friends.

After a few brief sentences, the subject had bee-lined to Naruto and had stayed there. In the mean time, Shikamaru had become more and more suspicious; there was something not right about all of this…

His suspicion had solidified into certainty when the stranger started asking if Shikamaru knew where Naruto was planning on going. Why would this person want to know that unless he had plans himself? A harsh challenge coupled with a 'kai' to release any low-level jutsus in the area had revealed the stranger to be of definite Uchiha stock. And since there were only two Uchiha left and this wasn't Sasuke, it was easy to identify him from there.

Uchiha Itachi, S-class Nuke-nin, slaughterer of his entire clan. _I am so screwed…_

But he couldn't give up or give in. Maybe he was fighting someone so beyond his own current level it wasn't even funny, but the alternative was unacceptable. If the brunette gave up, Itachi would continue his search for information and perhaps get what he was looking for. Maybe he would kill while he was doing this. Then he'd go after Naruto, for whatever reason he was doing _that _for. _Nothing good…_

_And help won't be coming; I am in a _training_ field after all, and a far-flung one at that. If anyone senses the chakra usage, they'll assume that someone's training. They won't even consider that someone might be fighting for his life._

Shikamaru's vision swam and he blinked hard to clear it. The cut on his side was only the largest of the many that decorated his body. Most were new wounds gained in this desperate scramble to stay alive; the shadow user couldn't dignify this by calling it an actual 'fight'. Calling it a fight would be to assume both fighters were of roughly equal level, and that just wasn't so.

The brunette eased sideways and felt the longer cut on his leg tear open more. This wound was almost a week old, but healing slowly. This fight had opened it and several other wounds that he had collected. All of them were forming a steady drain on his stamina, not to mention his blood; Shikamaru knew he wouldn't last much longer. So far he'd managed to outwit and outmaneuver Itachi, but that wasn't going to last. The only reason he'd managed to do that at all was because the older rogue Uchiha had underestimated the lazy bum.

_But that's not going to work anymore, he's wise to me now, I can tell. He's going to expect something clever from me from now on. So what else do I have? I can't use any of my Kage no Jutsus, he'll be looking for that. And I don't have enough chakra for most of the other jutsus I know. Physically overpowering him is a joke, so is using weaponry. So that leaves… what?_

Shikamaru rapidly dodged into some nearby shrubs farther down the hill as Itachi finally broke the current standoff by flinging some shuriken and a kunai. The brunette gained another kunai by pulling Itachi's out of his leg with a stifled grunt of pain. Great, another bleeding wound to add to his others. The shadow user was suddenly forced to fight off unconsciousness as his vision swam with sparks, graying out at the edges. _I don't have much time, stamina or luck left. This last strike's gotta be all or nothing. _

He cautiously peered out of the branches. Itachi was staring straight back at him. Shikamaru hastily ducked back. The Uchiha was at least respecting the Nara enough not to turn his back on him. _Last strike… I don't have to kill, I have not a prayer of doing that, but if I can do something to damage him so badly that he can't run, and that'll draw attention, I can let other people handle it. _He grinned without humor or hope, _even if I'm not around to see it. Final Strike, I'll have to use Final Strike. I have enough chakra to wound him and no one can mistake that for mere training._

Final Strike lived up to its name, for whoever performed it never did anything else ever again; it was always fatal. A shinobi would gather every last scrap of energy- chakra, physical, mental or otherwise- into his center and then release it in an explosion. There were a few craters around the boundary of Fire and Earth that showed the final resting-places of some of the shinobi in the last Great War.

_Only problem is, I don't know how to do it, I've only heard vague descriptions. Only Senior Chuunin and Jounin are taught it, and I don't qualify as either. Ah well, I can't use anything else, I just have to hope I can do this. I'm dead either way, so I might as well try to go out with a bang. _Shikamaru brought his hands up in his thinking-seal, and set to try to figure out how to perform his last act.

For the first time in… well, his entire life, Itachi was actually enjoying himself. _I had not a clue that Konoha held such a clever young ninja. I should have tried challenging this boy earlier._ This Nara boy wasn't challenging in strength, skill or experience. But tactically… that was a whole other story. Never before had Itachi been forced to use his brain quite so much in battle! It was novel, and exciting.

The many small wounds that he had gave further proof to the boy's intellect. Not even Kakashi, not even Jiraiya! had so damaged the Uchiha as much as this mere Chuunin had. _And to think, all I wanted was a little information from one of Naruto's few good friends. _

Itachi hadn't really thought much when he'd approached the boy that was safely out of sight of the rest of the population. He'd only judged this child to be safe and easy. Akastsuki intelligence had stated that Nara Shikamaru was becoming more isolated from his friends thanks to his higher rank and the botched mission. The botched mission was also alienating him from his rank-peers and other superiors. The Uchiha had decided that this would make the boy more receptive to a friendly approach.

_Too bad for me that he's so bloody smart._ The Nara had seen right through Itachi's façade and henge and had challenged him. Surprising, but no big deal. All the Uchiha had to do was subdue the boy, kill him if need be, and move on to the next potential information source. But the Nara had kept Itachi from leaving, using all kinds of traps and skills that were too simple to be so devastating, but so cleverly used that they _were _that devastating.

_I don't dare turn my back on him, the moment I do, he springs another trick on me; _Itachi thought with admiration. If only he had this boy as an underling! _I would not scorn him for messing up on his very first leadership mission against a force of unknown size and strength._

The Uchiha stifled a sneer of contempt, but one directed at Konoha, not Shikamaru. This was one of the reasons that Itachi had left Konoha, this shallow-sightedness. People were only willing to see one thing and forgot about the rest. They only saw Shikamaru's first failure, not the reason behind it nor the following successes.

Similarly, they had only seen Itachi's outward perfection, not his growing unhappiness or dissatisfaction.

_He's doing something…_ The Nara had been in that bush for a good while now. Itachi put himself on guard; he'd learned now, don't underestimate Nara Shikamaru. The boy exploded out of the bush suddenly, charging straight, kunai raised. Itachi braced himself and focused peripherally, if Shikamaru was charging straight, then there must be a trap on some other side.

Too late, the Uchiha realized that the straightforwardness of the charge itself was the trap; there was no other secondary strike. He grabbed the kunai before the boy had a chance to plunge it in, and Shikamaru clamped onto Itachi's arm tight. The rogue then felt a building chakra, a chakra that was dangerously unstable and horribly unmistakable. _Final Strike? That can't be, he's too junior to be taught that!_

But, as this battle had taught him decisively, don't underestimate Shikamaru. It _was_ Final Strike. But as experience in Akastsuki had taught him, every technique had a counter, if you studied it hard enough. The counter for the Strike was to reach into the Striker and drain the chakra. Tricky, but doable, especially if your chakra control was as fine as Itachi's.

Itachi centered himself and disengaged Shikamaru's Strike, draining him of all chakra. The boy moaned as he felt the last of his strength leave him and cursed weakly as his last chance to stop Itachi left with it. Since the Strike was disengaged and not released, only they two sensed. No one else would know what had happened. Good. The Uchiha caught the boy as he fell and lowered him to the ground as he slumped down himself. Disengaging Final Strike was nearly as draining for him as for the Striker.

Pulling power out of another person was tricky enough, but then he had to channel it through himself and into the ground since the power wasn't his own. This required that he make a 'funnel' to channel the power, a funnel that was eroded away by the foreign energy. There was a way to take chakra from another person and convert it into usable energy, but performing that tricky task at the same time as performing the equally tricky task of stopping Final Strike was too much for any human, even the genius Itachi.

But the battle was finally over. Shikamaru was too drained and exhausted to do more the lay there and glare at him while bleeding. All that the Uchiha need do now was slit the boy's throat and leave to recover. The fight had been too damaging for him to risk entering Konoha to locate another information source. But, as he took the kunai and lay the sharp edge on the shadow user's throat, Itachi found himself unable to cut.

It was no jutsu that stopped him, it was the eyes. He looked down into the deep, deep brown eyes the bordered on black and discovered that he had no desire to kill the owner of them. Shikamaru's eyes were fogged by exhaustion and blood loss, but they were still blazing with anger and frustration. And desperation; the boy was still trying to figure out how to stop Itachi, even now. _He's still fighting, after all this, in the state he's in, he's still fighting._

Itachi couldn't kill him, he just couldn't. It was almost laughable; here he was, the man who had eradicated the entire Uchiha clan, and he couldn't kill this battered, beaten child. _Not so much a child…_

But still, helpless. _But there's part of the problem._ The thought of killing someone who was utterly defenseless like this was… distasteful. Yes, the Uchiha had killed his clan when they were unarmed and unaware, but if they had recovered from the shock, and many had, they could have defended themselves.

Shikamaru was so weak and hurt that he couldn't even speak, and was having trouble maintaining consciousness. He was absolutely no threat. Even if he was still fighting, struggling to not pass out and to try to find some strategy to defeat Itachi.

"I can't kill you." Itachi murmured out loud, looking down at the boy whose head was resting on the older shinobi's knees. "I want to fight with you again." He murmured even more softly, realizing that it was true even as he said it.

He did want to fight Shikamaru again, to fight against someone who challenged his mind and not his body or endurance. He wanted to fight the Nara when he wasn't already exhausted and wounded, for Itachi hadn't missed the signs of that. The blood staining the boy's leg hadn't come from any injury that the Uchiha had inflicted.

But, this desire to fight someone intelligent again and again posed a different problem. Shikamaru was too smart not to have picked up on some things, fighting tendencies, habits and such, and was too loyal to not report these things. Killing Shikamaru was the only way to eliminate that threat; the threat of some other fool using the Nara's hard won knowledge to his own benefit. _Although, there is another way. I just need to seal the part of his memory that holds our fight, and then he won't be able to report what he's learned because he won't be able to remember it. _

Itachi stifled a grimace, as promising as that idea sounded, it was going to be difficult to do. Sealing a part of someone's memory instead of the whole thing was a nit-picky and tiring process, locating the precise location and then binding it up in a way that didn't adversely affect the person in question.

_Still, I have to do it if I'm don't want him dead, and I'd better do it quickly. He's still bleeding, and I have no medical equipment to spare. He'll die soon from blood loss without treatment. _Soonest begun, soonest done; Itachi gently lay Shikamaru's head on the ground and began the sealing ritual.

(bar thingy still ain't workin')

Tsunade was on her way to the hospital to do her rounds when the biggest damned raven she had ever had the fortune or misfortune to see suddenly appeared in front of the building and gingerly settled to the ground. In one taloned foot was a person that it gently lay on the ground, lowering its head to inspect the person with a surprisingly kind expression.

Then the too-sharp black eyes focused on the Hokage and it quorked demandingly before launching sky-ward and- disappearing mid-air. But she had no time to gape at the disappearance, even from her distant position she could see and smell the blood. She rushed over to the prone form and started briefly.

It was Shikamaru, and he wasn't breathing! She stooped over him and checked his throat; there was a pulse, faint but there. But there was so much blood! So many small but telling wounds! She set immediately to work, performing artificial respiration, stopping the blood-flow and trying desperately to thread some chakra into him. His body soaked up the energy like drought-parched earth soaking up rain. There was simply no chakra left in his beaten form.

How could this have happened? She had just seen him not three hours ago! He'd just come back from a minor yet vital mission, retrieving some herbs that she desperately needed for a handful of patients. He'd been fine, tired but fine. But now! He was two paces away from death, blood-loss and total chakra depletion eating away at his life energy. She was battling desperately to keep his vital organs from just shutting down.

Another pair of hands joined hers; Sakura's. Her exceedingly clever and determined apprentice. The young girl may not be an expert in the finer and more delicate medical jutsus, yet, but she knew enough to supply energy to her mentor. Energy that was badly needed, no single injury on Shikamaru's slight frame was mortal, but the huge number of accumulated wounds was well on the way to killing him.

Finally, the boy was stabilized. He was well enough to be shifted into the hospital for further work. And when that was done, Tsunade was going to send out every person available to see just what could have happened to the boy. She was going to interrogate Shikamaru, of course. But that was going to have to wait until he woke up on his own. And if the Hokage was any judge, that was going to take awhile, and her questions would not wait.

Kakashi had been surprised by the sudden demand from the Hokage to search the city, but after seeing Shikamaru's condition he hadn't argued. The Jounin had Summoned his dogs to go out searching for odd scents, and a howl near the outer edge of the training fields told him that they'd found something.

Reaching Pakkun's location, Kakashi paused in mild shock at the clear battle field that met his eye. There was blood everywhere.

Not huge stains, but small drops here and there. But there were just so many of those small drops, making it clear that whoever it was who had done the bleeding had been fighting hard at the same time. Recalling Shikamaru's pallor, he could guess as to who that person was.

Pakkun was sitting next to the largest stain a small ways away from a large bush. He dipped his nose down to point out two separate stains.

"Itachi," was all the dog said.

"Itachi?" Kakashi replied, disbelieving.

"It was Itachi," the ninja pug insisted, "He was here; he fought with Shikamaru and was injured by him. Look at this blood, he received several wounds."

"Are you… sure?" Kakashi asked again. He didn't doubt his cute dog's nose but… Itachi, Uchiha Itachi, wounded by Nara Shikamaru?

"Yeah, I'm sure, you can check for yourself, you know. You know Itachi's scent." Kakashi did know the rogue Uchiha's scent, so similar to Sasuke's but just different enough. And the blood-smell here was Itachi's.

"And that's not all, come over this way," Pakkun said, leading his master to the city side edge of the grounds. There was a trail there, only a few hours old, and the smell from it was disturbing. Shikamaru had clearly made the trail, and just as clearly he'd already been severely injured when he had. There was no blood-trail, but just the scent of blood and pain. And profound exhaustion.

The last one had to be the most disturbing of all; it took extreme exhaustion for its scent to be detectable. This made Kakashi pause to think. How many missions had Shikamaru been sent on recently and how many days had he been allowed off? The Jounin knew that Konoha was short handed for reliable personnel, but that the most recent Chuunin should be this tired… there must be something else wrong here.

_Well, at least now I know why he's injured._ With a word of thanks, Kakashi dismissed Pakkun and the rest of his dogs, and headed in to report. While on the way, he puzzled over the failed mission so many months ago. Kakashi had given lip service to not blaming Shikamaru, but in his heart, he felt that if someone better and more experienced had led, they may have retrieved the erring Uchiha.

But now, on second review, he couldn't help but feel that he really had given the young Chuunin the short end of the stick. Enemy position had been unknown, enemy strength had been unknown, enemy objective had been pretty much unknown. Hell, enemy _number_ had been unknown! _If I had been in Shikamaru's position, with the troops he had, would I have done any better?_ Painful to admit, but Kakashi had to admit that he would have done essentially what the young Chuunin had done.

_Well, maybe now I can start making it up to Shikamaru. There aren't many who can fight Uchiha Itachi and live, fewer still who can successfully wound him. If I get permission to, I'm going to spread that around. Hopefully that should repair his reputation a little._

(nope, still ain't workin')

Itachi watched as Kakashi left the scene of the battle then slumped back against the trunk of the tree he was hiding in. He didn't have enough chakra right now to fight against the Jounin and win. Fortunately, having so little chakra made it ridiculously easy to hide what little there was.

Hugin, the Shikigami raven, eyed his ally and clacked his beak in distaste.

"You sure did a number on yourself." he quorked critically, "You need to take better care, you have too many enemies and there's only so much we Ravens are allowed to do."

"I know," the Uchiha replied. After sealing up a tiny section of Shikamaru's memory, he had pathetically little energy, certainly not enough to enter Konoha with a wounded person and get out again. So he'd had to call on his allies to deliver the boy while he bound up his own wounds. Once again, Itachi was incredibly grateful he'd taken the gamble of making a forbidden Bond Alliance with one of the Shikigami clans instead of learning a traditional Summons.

There were pros and cons to both the Shikigami and the Summons. A Summons would always come when you called, but the size and quality of your Summon was proportionate to the chakra expenditure. Summons always did what you told them to, unless you summoned the chief of the particular species you contracted with. But that was all.

Shikigami didn't always come when called; they had to feel like obeying. It didn't matter how much chakra you pumped out, the size and quality of the ally you got depended on who it was who felt like helping. _But,_ if your relationship with your allies was good, not only would they come when called, they'd come when they thought you needed help. They wouldn't always do what you told them to, but then, that wasn't always a good idea either. Itachi's life had been saved a number of times by his allies 'disobedience'. Even though it was that same disobedience that made the Shikigami Bond Alliance a forbidden technique.

Thus, Itachi had to only send out a trickle of chakra to request help, only enough to carry his message. And Hugin, one of the higher Ravens, had come willingly and swiftly. The Uchiha had explained what he needed done, and Hugin had figured out _how_ to do it by himself. Now he was back, standing guard over his bond ally without being asked. And enjoying it fully too, Itachi detested feeling weak and as if he needed protecting, something Hugin knew only too well.

"I still don't understand why you put so much effort into that measly little boy." The raven complained, "He's no use to you, he'll try and kill you if he can, and you betrayed your presence here by saving him."

"I'm not too sure why I saved him either," Itachi confessed. Hugin grumbled about mental cases, which the Uchiha ignored, "But-"

"But?"

"I couldn't kill him, nor did I want him to die. I am glad that I acted on impulse."

"That's unlike you,"

"I know," Itachi hauled himself to his feet and offered his arm to the bird, "but I can not bring myself to regret it."

"Humph, leaving me and mine to clean up the mess you make." The Raven muttered as he hopped onto the offered arm. "So, scouting duty?" He asked, cocking his head to peer at his human partner with one bright, black eye.

"If you please." The Uchiha replied courteously. It never hurt to be polite to Shikigami, least they take offense and decide not to help you. Not that someone as rowdy as Hugin would likely be insulted from such a thing. The large bird pointed his beak skyward before launching off; growing in size with each wing beat then- disappearing. Itachi could still sense his ally, since all the bird had done was wrap himself in a Wind-Cloak, but no one else could. And a bird that dwarfed most draft horses would definitely be noticed.

The rogue cast one last wistful glance back over his shoulder towards the city before heading off. _Until next time, Shikamaru-kun._

(guess what, it still ain't workin', ain't that a surprise)

A.S.: #glares at Itachi# There, happy now? I wrote your bloody ItaShika fic for you, even though I've got plenty of other things to do!

Itachi: #shrug# It's a start.

Shika: #bound, gagged and shoved in a closet# HMMM-MUMMPH UMPH! (Don't post it) Ummph- unmmm humnn unph ump (It's bad, no one will read it)

A.S.: It's better than the other one that Mister. Bondage Lover here forced me to write.

Shika: UMMMMMPPPPHHHHH! (nooooooooooooooooooooooo)

Itachi: #low evil chuckle#

A.S.: That one though, won't be posted-

Itachi: #evil glare#

Shika: Humh! (yes)

A.S.: -Here.

Itachi: #approving nod#

Shika: UMMMMMPPPPHHHHHH! (nooooooo) Nupm phun! (Bad Skitty)

A.S.: Fanfiction (dot) net has this teensy little issue with M and M+ rated material so I'm not even going to bother posting the other ItaShika story here, I'm posting it on Mediaminer (dot) org. My author name is exactly the same over there, as soon as I figure out how, I'll attach a link in my profile.

Itachi: Good.

Shika: UNPH (bad)

A.S.: Well, until next time-

Shika: UNMOPH MUPH (no next time)

Itachi: Hush you, or do you want me to act out some of the scenes that would give the FF (dot) net managers a conniption?

Shika, A.S.: ACK!

A.S.: Uh, yeah, until next time, try and get _that _image out of your head!

Itachi: Humph.

Shika: whimper….


	2. Further meetings

Chapter 2

Author notes: I got a lot of comments about how Konoha, especially the Rookie Nine, would not turn their backs to Shika-kun. There is a reason for the 'betrayal, and I'll try to explain it here. But in case you don't catch it, they're being manipulated. Under normal circumstances the bond within the Nine wouldn't be broken so easily, but my fic does not include normal circumstances.

There were also a few comments that Itachi seems OOC, that will be fully explained later in the fic as well, but I think I can explain here. Right before the massacre, Itachi was under a tremendous amount of stress. He was an ANBU captain, the heir to Uchiha clan head, his father's first born son (and his father didn't seem like a nice person to me at least, but that's my _opinion_), _That _genius Itachi, and a whole thirteen years old. If you think about it, that is a lot of pressure and stress for a young person to labor under. It's hard enough being a thirteen-year-old with the normal amount of expectations weighing down on you, but under _that_ load, it's no wonder he snapped.

That's what I believe, in my _opinion_, was the primary cause of the massacre; Itachi couldn't handle it anymore and went nuts. Once he got away from the stress of all of that and got to simply be _Itachi,_ not _that genius Itachi, _or _ANBU captain Itachi,_ or anything, he was able to recover and regain his sanity. In my fic he comes to regret his actions, but that's for later. So if he seems OOC, think of my reasons and base his behavior off of that.

* * *

A sigh echoed through the forest as a slight figure appeared around a curve on the small track that meandered through it. It was Shikamaru, and if anything, he looked even worse than he had just before that fight with Itachi three weeks back. _And, gee, I wonder why that is?_ He leaned against a tree trunk and then slide down to sit at its base, he was so damned tired…

He'd woken up in the hospital, a full four days after he'd been admitted; with no understanding as to why he was there. After trying to sit up, only to find that he couldn't even lift his head, he got a slightly better understanding, but he still had no idea as to why he was so weak. Tsunade had come in an hour later, face creased with worry and explained a little; that he'd been in a fight with the infamous S-class criminal Uchiha Itachi and survived.

If he'd had the strength, Shikamaru would have given into about an hour's worth of laughter, since Tsunade was clearly playing a prank on him. She wasn't, she insisted, Kakashi's dogs had discovered Itachi's scent, and even blood, in the same area that they had found Shikamaru's own blood-trail. The area had obviously played host to a long battle, but the details as to what had happened, and more importantly why, were unknown. And the only person who knew, who was available that is, was Shikamaru.

Only… Shikamaru didn't know the what's, the why's or the wherefore's. He clearly remembered heading up to his hill, dragging with exhaustion, and then flopping down to rest. Then, a stranger had appeared- and brunette's phenomenal memory started to get fuzzy at that point- the stranger had asked some questions concerning Naruto, then-

-Nothing. The next thing he remembered was waking up here. A brief examination later showed that Shikamaru's memory had been sealed, not too surprising for Tsunade after she had thought about it for a bit. The young Nara was intelligent, observant and very loyal; things that someone like Itachi would pick up on immediately. So in the interest of protecting himself, he would decide to seal the shadow-user's memory if he had also decided to spare the boy.

In a way, the seal could be viewed as a compliment due to its complexity. Not only did it block Shikamaru's memory, but it could not be removed; it was too dangerous. No one had seen anything like it, and tampering with a _memory_ seal was a recipe for disaster. Total memory loss or feeble-mindedness were just two of the lesser consequences of failure. There were thus only two ways to eliminate the seal, have the creator disperse it, or have the one sealed break it from inside.

That's were the other problem came in. To break a seal, you had to have a feel for it. Shikamaru couldn't feel the memory seal. Normally something like this could be felt as a kind of wall or barrier when the person sealed probed his memories. But Shikamaru felt nothing like that; he went up to the hill, there was a blank, and then life proceeded when he woke up. No matter how he probed the blank, nothing came up. He felt nothing, he only couldn't remember. Not the battle, not the reason for the battle, not even the point when he when he was sealed, a period that was usually branded into the memories of everyone who labored under a seal. He couldn't even get a hint as to why he had been spared.

_But that's the thing that I can't bloody figure out. Why the heck did he spare me? Me! I'm nobody! I'm nothing! And he didn't do anything else to me, Tsunade, Kakashi and Asuma-sensei checked._ Try convincing the general population Konoha of that though.

After receiving permission, Kakashi had let it be known that Nara Shikamaru had battled Itachi, injured him, and lived. He had done so thinking that the population would be as impressed as he himself was. What the population heard was that Nara Shikamaru had fought Itachi, _and had been spared._

_Well, _Shikamaru thought, pulling out a soldier pill and examining it, _that is true, but I don't think I had much choice in the matter at the time._ The Nara was well aware of his nearly-dead condition when he'd woken up and could only assume that he'd been in even worse state before the four days of sleep. The general population didn't know how weak he had been and those few who did know probably didn't really care. Someone who fought against a Nuke-nin should either kill or be killed or in some other _honorable_ way end the battle. A Konoha Chuunin should not be _spared_ by the likes of _Itachi._

Nor have his memory sealed so that he couldn't even report on the matter. That little bit of news changed Shikamaru's reputation from pathetic failure, to traitor. _Clearly_ the battle with Itachi was just a ruse. _Clearly_ Shikamaru must have made some kind of deal with the Nuke-nin, that's why he'd been spared. _Clearly_ the memory seal wasn't for Itachi's protection, but for Shikamaru's. After all, what he couldn't remember couldn't be slipped, or tortured out of him.

Then those people who decided that Shikamaru was a traitor thought back onto that botched retrieval mission… had it really been inexperience and ineptitude that had failed the mission, or something else? Remember, nearly everyone who had gone out had returned near death. Except for that Nara kid.

_And to make matters worse, I've had a small string of failures recently,_ Shikamaru thought as he leaned back against the tree, lowering the pouch of soldier pills to his lap. The recent failures weren't really his fault either, they just happened. Some missions were failures even before they'd been assigned out. An example would be a mission to save this stretch of farmland from this forest fire. Only, by the time Shikamaru had gotten the mission scroll, half of the farms had been torched, and by the time he got there only one half of one farm was salvageable. Failure.

A child had gone missing, and there was a known molester in the area. The mission was to bring the child back alive. But by the time Shikamaru and his team had found the child… the remains stated that the little one had been killed the night it had gone missing. The parents understood, and had been solemnly grateful to have closure and something to take home, but the mission was deemed a failure.

_That mission was still the suckiest I've ever been sent on. Glad we got the bastard though._ The youth's lips pulled back in a feral grin; beating the shit out of the molester had been the best stress-relief he'd had in a long time, and his team had been sympathetic, one courteously holding the slime bag while the Nara had unleashed. The scum was currently languishing in jail pending his trial with the knowledge that Konoha executed individuals like him.

But still, five other missions had been of that type, technical failures before Shikamaru even received them. All he could do was salvage what he could, return and report. Such missions decorated every shinobi's record; the shadow-user wasn't the only one to get them. Yet to listen to the gossip mill, each failure was a betrayal of Konoha and his leader.

Which was why Tsunade had started to assign him the kind of mission he was on now; information retrieval. The information had already been gathered by established agents, it just needed to be taken home in the form of a coded, Sealed scroll. Easy solo missions; especially for someone like Shikamaru who couldn't stand out unless he stripped naked and paraded down a crowded street, and so wouldn't be remembered or remarked upon. The only problem was that these agents tended to be far-flung, so it took several days to get to them. To compound the problem, a lot of the information was time-sensitive, so the brunette had to get the scroll and get back as soon as possible.

_And I believe it was the second such mission that got me started on popping soldier pills like candy,_ he thought, lifting the pill again. He'd only been sitting for five minutes, but he needed to get moving again. He didn't have the _time_ to prepare a meal and eat it; he barley had the scheduled time to _sleep_. The only thing that kept him going were the pills, which held their own small danger. Soldier pills were mildly addictive, and also were no substitute for a real meal or rest; they just convinced your body otherwise.

_But have I got a choice?_ Well, on a technicality, yes he did. All Konoha shinobi had the right to tell their Hokage where she could shove that mission scroll. Of course, the Hokage had the alternate right to tell his or her shinobi to shut the fuck up and shove out. This kind of exchange rarely happened though, most shinobi were genuinely loyal to their leader, Shikamaru not excluded. He had the right to tell Tsunade that he was tired and needed a break to recuperate, but he never did. _I don't want to._

The Nara youth potently did _not_ want to stay in his home town to listen to the gossip, endure the hateful and hurting glares or encounter one more of his friends who thought him a traitor. Maybe most of them didn't think that he was a deliberate traitor, but… who knew what an S-class Nuke-nin like Itachi was capable of? Maybe he really had planted some kind of subconscious compulsion into Shikamaru's brain?

_Enough thinking painful thoughts,_ he ordered himself, popping the pill in his mouth and crunching down, waiting for the rush energy that would allow him to continue. _I'll ask for a two-day leave when I get back, and I'll just stay in my room the whole damned time. Gods know that I may be forced to do that anyway, what with my lack of endurance._

The energy came, only in a tiny trickle instead of the rush. Still, it was enough to allow Shikamaru to haul himself to his feet and continue a few paces. That is, until he felt something in his head give making him reel against another tree trunk to steady himself. Memories flooded forward with an almost physical impact, and he remembered.

"Itachi?" he asked, looking around. The Nuke-nin who had further ruined his already crappy life stepped out from behind a tree just ahead of him and narrowed his red eyes.

Shikamaru glared back, "I am not sparring with you this time." He snapped.

"I did not intend to this time," Itachi replied, gliding forward. On Shikamaru's first solo mission after the battle, Itachi had appeared before him after eight hours of travel out of Konoha. Naturally, the brunette had prepared to fight the older man, until the Uchiha had lifted his hands in a seal- and all of the memories of the battle came flooding forward, including Itachi's final statements.

'_I don't want to kill you' 'I want to fight you again'_

Itachi was now back, and he wanted to conclude their fight. The only problem was… Shikamaru was damned near back in the same lousy condition that he had been in before their previous battle. Frustrated, the eccentric fugitive had decided to do the next best thing, he decided to _train_ his 'opponent'.

Shikamaru being Shikamaru, he had protested, _loudly_, this sudden decision to force him to do even more work. Not that it had done him any good, what Itachi wanted, Itachi got, hell or high water. Somehow, the Uchiha had adjusted the memory seal on Shikamaru so that the youth could remember vaguely the things he'd learned under the Uchiha, but still not really remember how he learned them or encountering Itachi. The things Shikamaru had remembered had saved his life acouple of times.

But the spars themselves didn't do anything for Shikamaru's stamina or energy level; he only became more exhausted each time. Which was why he was declaring that he was _not_ going to spar this time. He simply couldn't.

He hadn't expected Itachi to listen though; the Uchiha seemed to be selectively deaf when it came to listening to anything he didn't want to hear. _Reminds me of Sasuke that way._

"Huh?" Shikamaru said intelligently, blinking hard at the man before him.

"I said, I do not intend to spar with you this time." Itachi replied, "You are clearly too exhausted to do anything but rest, which you will do now."

Shikamaru shook his head, "I don't have time, I have to get a scroll-"

"The scroll can wait, your body will not." The Uchiha insisted, "Sit."

The Nara youth pushed away from the tree and continued down the path that Itachi was blocking. "I told you, I can't. The information is always time sensitive. Tsunade-sama needs me to bring it to her."

Itachi proceeded with his mule imitation, a thing that all Uchiha's were rather good at. "And I told you; the scroll can wait, as can Tsunade." He stepped in front of the youth, who was doing his own mule imitation, "What would you rather have? Force your leader do without some data that will keep for a few days, or force her do without you for _several_ days. You are perilously close to a collapse."

"I'll live," Shikamaru insisted, stubbornly trying to get past Itachi. The other man sighed silently and swept the youth's legs out from underneath him. Not that Shikamaru really noticed the move; he suddenly found himself on the floor with Itachi's foot on his chest keeping him down and decided that the Uchiha knocking his legs out was the most probable move.

* * *

"I said, _sit._" Itachi restated, glaring down at the youth. Why must the child be so vexing? _More to the point, why the hell do I care?_ Itachi was rather confused by his own behavior, never before had he monitored another's behavior as he was outside of a mission. He had never before cared. But Itachi found himself being inexplicably pulled back to the youth's side again and again. In fact, on more than one occasion, Itachi had been startled to realize that he was fretting over the Nara's health when he wasn't by the child's side.

This was utterly unlike him, and he wasn't sure he liked this current behavior trend. But… he couldn't help himself, nor stop himself. Nor could he eliminate the cause of his aberrant behavior. Even this time, he came planning to just kill Shikamaru, and found instead that he was preparing to play nursemaid if need be. Not that the Nara was likely to permit him to play nursemaid. The boy was glaring boldly and fearlessly into Itachi's eyes, something very few had the courage to do.

The Uchiha noted that courage, and also noted that the boy seemed rather thin. Unhealthily so.

"When was the last time you ate?" he heard himself ask. Shikamaru blinked in stunned surprise.

"I… uh-" A low gurgle answered the question instead, as if the Nara's stomach had heard the question and had decided to answer itself. It took a great effort of will on Itachi's part to keep his lips from twitching in amusement. Shikamaru's imaginative swearing wasn't helping his resolve.

"Not recently enough I take it." The Uchiha stated, stepping back. "Wait here for a moment."

"How many times do I have to say I can't wait?" Shikamaru growled, staggering to his feet. "I can't wait on you, I don't have time."

Itachi watched the boy start to stalk out of small clearing before he allowed himself to sigh silently. He pulled out a kunai, made a series of seals over it while he infused it with some chakra, and then flung it into the boy's shadow. Shikamaru's feet ceased moving.

"What the-? What did you-?" the Nara pivoted at the hips to glare back at Itachi then stared down at his feet and the kunai. "You- You bastard! That's my trick! You _stole_ my Shadow Snap!"

"It was ideal for my purposes and I was the one who helped you develop it in the first place." Itachi said, stifling the smug smirk that wanted to surface. Shikamaru was still fuming.

"I don't care! Undo it, now! I have work to do!" Ignoring the ranting, the Uchiha walked over to the boy and poked him in the chest, making him unbalance and thump to the ground.

"Sit," Itachi restated needlessly. Thanks to the Shadow Snap, Shikamaru's rump and hands, which he had used to brace himself, were now as glued to the ground as his feet.

The Shadow Snap, or Kage Wana no jutsu (1), was a very useful technique, pinning a person's shadow to the ground with a chakra infused weapon. Whatever appendage was in contact with the ground would be immovable until the weapon was pulled out and the jutsu released. On a battlefield, strewn with spent kunai and shurinken, the cause of immobility was unlikely to be discovered until it was too late. The downside was that anyone could remove the pinning tool; but they had to know what was causing the problem in the first place.

This was all theoretical however, since the Shadow Snap jutsu had been created not two weeks ago during one of their spars.

"This is just great," Shikamaru grumbled, "What's going to happen to me if a bandit gang comes here while you're out doing whatever?"

"That cannot happen due to the fact that I have already slain all the bandits in the area." Itachi responded while he started to set up a very complex hunting jutsu. It wasn't a difficult jutsu, just a time consuming one. It would summon whatever he specified with a very low-level call. If he didn't specify what he wanted clearly enough, he'd either get every creature in the woods, or nothing, instead of the one or two bunnies he was hoping to coax near.

"You know, for some strange reason, that doesn't reassure me." Came the next whining complaint, "If you killed them all then that mean's there's bodies nearby and what happens if that attracts something nasty? Kyuubi wasn't the only demon in the Fire Lands, for your information, only the most powerful."

"There aren't any bodies, I burned them." Itachi answered in a distracted tone. He was at the trickiest part, specifying what kind of prey he wanted. It would be bad if he lost his concentration now.

"Oh, yay, so that's what stinks," the boy grumbled, then continued to mutter about how his life sucked in every imaginable way. Itachi tuned him out, a thing he was growing practiced in. For someone who thought that everything, including talking, was troublesome, Shikamaru certainly vocalized a lot.

* * *

_He's ignoring me again,_ Shikamaru realized when Itachi failed to respond to a indirect insult. The youth had said something rude about Uchiha's, but the rouge had just continued with his arcane jutsu. Deciding that complaining was too troublesome if he didn't have a listening audience, Shikamaru shut up and tried to figure out what Itachi was doing instead. He'd never seen this jutsu before, it could be useful.

The youth took careful note of the seals being used and tried to deduce the effects from the various combinations. After one full minute of seal making, he was lost; this jutsu was just too complex, especially since he missed the crucial first part of it. The result of it was clear enough however, as two rabbits hopped out of the surrounding undergrowth to blink at Itachi. Their deaths were swift and nearly painless as the Uchiha severed their spines with a swift jab of his kunai.

"How did you do that?" Shikamaru asked.

"It was a jutsu I was taught in ANBU, something you use when you have no time to hunt but must eat." Itachi responded as he started to dress the carcasses.

"Oh, so you're listening to me now, huh?"

"Only if you have something sensible to say." Came the deadpan response. Shikamaru snorted.

"I always have something sensible to say, it's too troublesome to rant without a reason."

"I had not noticed a difference."

"Hey!" Shikamaru bristled, struggling against the Shadow Snap binding him for a moment before giving it up as a hopeless cause. The Shadow Snap, like the kagemane, could be defeated if you infused your chakra into it and dispersed the binding web. Shikamaru's problem was that his current chakra level was too weak to defeat it, and the web was too strong since it was fueled by Itachi.

Itachi spitted the bunnies over a small fire and then moved off to find some form of nutritious vegetable. Shikamaru watched him quietly now, noting with amusement the Uchiha's distaste at the dirt on one of the root vegetables he found. It was funny how one of the most fearsome Nuke-nins was so careful to not get dirt on his cloak.

The Nara hastily turned his laugh into a cough and widened his eyes innocently as he remembered Naruto often doing when Itachi glared at him.

"Hush." The Uchiha ordered.

"I didn't say anything!" The Nara protested. Itachi snorted, and was that a glint of amusement in his eyes? Surely not, Shikamaru had a theory that Itachi was devoid of normal human emotions. So far his theory was proving correct, there was absolutely nothing normal about the Uchiha.

It didn't take long for the food to be cooked, as with everything else, Itachi was extremely efficient. When it was done, the he came over to where Shikamaru was pinned, yanked out the kunai and grabbed the back of the youth's neck to steer him over to the small fire. Shikamaru, naturally, protested. Loudly. Again.

"Oi! Oi! Oi! I can walk you know!" he yelled, "Just because I'm tired doesn't mean I've lost all strength in my legs!"

"Hn."

"You are just like your brother, you know that, Mr. Anti-Social?"

"Hn."

"…… You're hopeless."

"Hn."

"…. And troublesome."

"Hn."

"………………arg."

* * *

Itachi had only been mildly concerned with Shikamaru's depleted condition when he had first noted it. But when the youth had finished eating and had almost immediately fallen asleep, the rouge became truly concerned. It was highly unusual for someone with as high a loyalty and as strong a willpower as Shikamaru to fall asleep in the middle of a mission just because he finally had a full belly.

But, if that person were truly exhausted, the body's demand would overwhelm the mental drive to fulfill his duty. Which is what happened when Shikamaru had finished the last bit of rabbit, he had leaned back a moment to relax and had simple passed out.

Itachi was not pleased as he noted further signs of stress in the youth's frame. There were lines at the corners of the youth's mouth and between his eyes that indicated much strain and unhappiness. His eyes looked bruised from lack of sleep, and he truly was much too thin for someone from a village that was as prosperous and peaceful as Konoha.

There was something terribly wrong here, and since Itachi realized he simply wasn't going to shake loose his current fascination with the Nara, he might as well find out what that 'something wrong' was. He had nothing else to do after all; Naruto was firmly under the protection of Jiraiya, unreachable, and all of Itachi's agents were busy gathering information. When they had something to report, they'd send it directly to Itachi's quarters. So the rouge might as well discover why a child from one of Konoha's more respected clan's, the heir to that clan in fact, would be in such a state.

_I have a suspicion that there may be more going on here than can be seen on the surface._ Mind made up, Itachi banked the fire, wrapped up the few leftovers and placed them near Shikamaru, and then re-activated the memory seal. Then he left, after a cursory examination to make sure that all was well here. He didn't want the supremely clever boy to figure out what precisely had happened, and perhaps deduce the identity of his benefactor after all. That would spoil the game.

* * *

(Four days later)

_Almost home,_ Shikamaru thought with relief as he finally spotted the towering walls of Konoha. He couldn't wait to have a reunion with his pillow, and have a chance to puzzle over those mysterious blank periods he was having. He'd had another one during this mission. But he had to drop off his hard-won scrolls first. A grimace decorated his face briefly at the thought of how he'd had to play diplomat to get the second of his two scrolls. The first was a simple retrieval, all he'd had to do was meet with the agent, exchange pass-codes and stash the offered scroll. The second though…

The second scroll was a treasured item that supposedly held sensitive material that would be dangerous in the hands of someone like Orochimaru, so Shikamaru had been instructed to bring it to the safety of the city. But the elder of the village that had the scroll hadn't been willing to just hand it over. It had taken all of Shikamaru's persuasion and patience to convince the old man that it would indeed be safer in Konoha than in a tiny, backwater, pocket hamlet that was its current home.

_At least I was able to get a little rest while I was doing that though._ It had taken two and a half days of diplomacy to finally win the scroll, and the old man would only see him two or three hours at a time, then have a long four or five hour break to think things over. Since the retrieval was all that Shikamaru had been ordered to do, he'd taken advantage of those breaks to catch up on a little sleep.

He'd needed it, he had to make up time on the road, the first scroll was indeed time-sensitive. But now he was home, and he could request a long-delayed break from missions and recoup from the thirty-six hour sprint he'd just put his body through. _I just have to get past the next hurdle, getting past the gate-keepers._

Kiba and Neji were standing guard duty at the entryway, and neither seemed pleased with their position. Both had finally made Chuunin, and both resented Shikamaru's position. And Shikamaru knew why. It was the missions the three of them were assigned.

Kiba was in a bad position, he was the heir to a very, very large clan, roughly three times the size of the Nara clan. But the clan finance of both clans was roughly the same. To clarify, the Inuzuka clan was very poor. This was because one quarter of the clan couldn't work because of crippling injuries and another third of the clan couldn't work because they were children. Less than one quarter of the Inuzuka clan was actually bringing in money, and Kiba, as clan heir and aware of the problem, needed to bring in as much money as possible. He had needed that promotion to Chuunin, and now that he had it, he needed high rank, high _pay_, missions.

He needed the kinds of missions that Shikamaru was getting on a regular basis, but he wasn't getting them. And Shikamaru knew the reason for that as well. Kiba, like most Inuzuka's was, well, a hothead. He had a short temper and lost it regularly. If he'd had to put up with the mission that Shikamaru had just been placed on, he'd have blown up and blown the mission. That's why he wasn't given a leadership position, ever, and why he wasn't given a position where he had to be diplomatic, ever.

Both kinds of missions were high rank and high pay, and he didn't understand why Shikamaru was given those kinds of missions when he wasn't. After all, the Nara's, while poor, weren't nearly bankrupt the way the Inuzuka's were. _The only way he's ever going to get the missions I'm given is when he realizes his own faults. But that's going to take a maturity that he doesn't have right now, to recognize that he isn't perfect and that he has personality problems like everyone else in the world._

But right now Kiba's temper issues ran unchecked and he was immature enough to take out his frustration and worry on a target that didn't deserve it. Shikamaru.

Neji's problem was slightly different but mostly the same. He wanted the high rank, high _prestige_ missions that Shikamaru was getting, but he wasn't because of his own personality flaws. Neji was also in a bad position, that of being the Hyuuga clan leader's nephew, the son of the clan leader's twin brother. But Neji was also in the Branch clan of the Hyuuga clan, making him neither fish nor fowl, but something in between.

Right now that was making him shunned. But if Neji gained prestige by successfully completing difficult missions he wouldn't be shunned but respected and would be able to make a place for himself. The reason he wasn't getting those missions was again a matter of attitude.

Neji still had that 'superior than thou' attitude, which you simply couldn't have in a leader of a small team. It would create strife, weaken relations and inevitably lead to failure sooner or later. It would also alienate clients, or others that one would have to work with.

Neji would never have been able to peacefully complete the mission that Shikamaru had just been on. He would have lost all patience with the town elder, insulted him and probably would have stolen the scroll. That would have led to a political mess that possibly could have blown up into nasty border war as other annoyed parties joined the hamlet in rebellion. Possibly, not likely though. Konoha was a respected and strong village. But all small villages liked their independence and would take any excuse to try and break away. Having a precious scroll stolen by one of Konoha's representatives would act as a perfect excuse.

Shikamaru's patience and calm attitude had allowed him to win over the reluctant elder and permitted him to gain the scroll peaceably and actually with the elder's blessing. Because of a more mature attitude, Shikamaru had avoided all possible chaotic scenarios, which in turn spared Konoha a _possible_ border war.

Neji wasn't aware of his more irritating personality traits though, which caused him to resent Shikamaru as the recipient of the missions _he _wanted. It looked like favoritism. It wasn't really, it was practicality; giving the missions best suited to certain personalities. If both Neji and Kiba would just grow up and reign in their tempers and attitudes, they would get the high rank, high pay and prestige missions they wanted. But doing so would require a maturity neither had right now, despite appearances.

_And until they do grow up, I have to put up with their attitudes. _With a heavy sigh, he approached and was almost immediately pounced.

"Well, well." Kiba sneered, "Look who finally decided to show up."

"Over a day late." Neji added coldly.

"Complications in the mission," Shikamaru explained, knowing it wouldn't help, "It couldn't be helped or avoided." He moved to get past the two only to find his path blocked by Kiba.

"Oh, is that a fact?" The Inuzuka growled.

"Actually, it is, it's in my report." The Nara replied, avoiding eye contact. Dogs took a direct stare as a challenge. Shikamaru didn't want to find out if Inuzuka's were the same. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late enough as it is."

"And you have cared about promptness since- when?" Neji commented oh so calmly. Shikamaru stifled another sigh; he really didn't want to fence words right now.

"When the matter is important, I care. Now please, I have to deliver these scrolls and I really would rather not have to add more to my report as to why I'm even later."

Kiba exaggeratedly moved out of the way with a mocking bow. Shikamaru passed him, feeling a deep ache deepen further. Not too long ago, they had been classmates and distant friends. Kiba and Shikamaru had never really hung out together, but they had liked each other well enough. And on that mission, there had been mutual respect…

Gone now. All gone, same as with the respect Shikamaru had gained from Neji as well. Shikamaru had returned that respect, but now, it was hard. _Perhaps that's what hurts the most. It's not just their attitude toward me, it's the way my attitude has been warped toward them. I can't help but resent them in turn because of the way they treat me. I don't want to dislike them, but I can't stop it. I hate this._

He entered a busy street, and paused for a moment to marshal what little strength he'd regained from the rest he'd gotten at the small border town. He lifted his head, and straightened his back and tried to look as professional as possible. He'd noticed that the common villagers left him alone more when he did this, feelingly slightly intimidated. His fellow shinobi were not so intimidated, but if he looked like he had business, then they tended to let him go about it.

That didn't stop the sneers, the contemptuous glances, the loud meant-to-be-overheard conversations about his supposed treachery. Shikamaru kept his eyes forward and tried to close his ears to the insults. But it still hurt. _Dammit, I'm not a traitor! I would never betray my birthplace! Why should I, this is my home!_

He finally reached the missions office, feeling as if he'd just been pummeled by all the people he passed by. Iruka looked up at his entrance, and smiled. There was one person at least who didn't listen to rumors. Shikamaru smiled back then looked over to his Hokage, who was currently busy arguing with another Chuunin who wasn't happy about his assignment.

"Dammit all! Why should I have to baby-sit that brat? That's a Genin job!" The Chuunin yelled.

"'That brat' has been under hostile threat and therefore needs a more substantial guard than a mere Genin and therefore you will baby-sit 'that brat'!" Tsunade yelled back. "Now shut up and move out! I expect to see a positive report when you get back."

The Chuunin humphed and muttered as he took the scroll before turning and meeting Shikamaru's gaze. A superior smirk crossed his features and the younger Chuunin knew he was about to be the target for yet another person's frustration.

"Oh, so the traitor finally decides to return, eh?" the man purred aggressively. A ledger suddenly impacted the man's head at high speed.

"How dare you say such a thing in my presence?" Tsunade stated in her most dangerous voice. "I expected better from a Chuunin of Konoha. I would have thought that you would use your own eyes, ears and brain than to let someone else make up your mind for you with vicious, unsubstantiated rumors."

The other Chuunin whimpered, glancing back at the Hokage while rubbing his head, recognizing the danger of his position at least. Tsunade glared daggers while Shikamaru kept perfectly still, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

"If you come back with a glowing report, I _might _decide to not punish this display of stupidity and insubordination. Now, get out, before you make me angrier." The man got out, moving as quickly as humanly possible. Tsunade sat back and performed a quick breathing exercise to calm herself while the rest of the office just held their collective breath. Finally, she looked over at Shikamaru and smiled warmly.

"Shikamaru, I'm so glad you're safely back. I was worried when you sent a note saying you were delayed." She said calmly and with genuine fondness.

The youth smiled back and walked up to the desk. "The mission was more troublesome than I thought it'd be, the old geezer at the village didn't want to give up the scroll. That's why I was delayed, I had to convince him otherwise, but a sparrow can't carry too big a note. I'm sorry that it worried you." He explained while he placed the two scrolls and his mission report on the desk.

Tsunade took them and then asked detailed questions about how Shikamaru had convinced the village elder to relinquish the scroll. The youth complied, realizing that he wasn't going to get that reunion with his pillow for a while. How troublesome.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the office, a red-eyed shadow watched carefully, as he had for the last of the recently finished mission. Now that his target was safely home, there was some snooping to do, and Itachi had plenty of experience in collecting information. And from the little he had heard thus far, there was plenty of information to gather. Sifting out the cause of the hostilities would be the more difficult task.

With no one there to see him, Itachi allowed a small smirk to grace his features while he thought: _how troublesome.

* * *

(1) Kage Wana no Jutsu: Art of the Shadow Trap._

A.N: There, second chapter up and I hope that things are progressing in a logical manner. I had a discussion with some of my friends about improbable pairings, my friend was into this on Hues/Winry pairing that I protested to, saying there was no evidence. Then she pointed out that my pairing of ItaShika had no evidence, so I protested that I was making the evidence, which I hope I'm doing. There is nothing I hate more than a 'I like you' 'I like you too,' 'Let's go fuck' fic. You had damn well make me believe that this can happen, so I hope I'm making you believe that Itachi and Shikamaru could come to like each other. How'm I doin' so far?


	3. Life at Home

The Word 'Traitor', Chap 3

Disclaimer: Do you see rampant, _blatant_ homosexual pairings throughout Naruto? No? Okay, how about conclusive heterosexual pairings? Hmm, none of those either, eh? Well, I guess I don't own it then, do I? 'Cause I like both!

AN: Word of warning, there will be points in here were characters seem OOC. There are reasons, some of which I've already explained, some I will explain and some which should be evident due to the story-line, IE: Shika-kun acting impatient or angry due to the conditions he's having to deal with. Just thought I'd tell you before you come baying for my blood….

11-10-06

* * *

It took a while, but Shikamaru was finally able to escape Tsunade's interrogation. Pausing for a moment just outside the office, he gathered a little chakra and cast a henge he called the 'Don't look at me' no jutsu or Nakare kan o ware no jutsu. He had come up with this on one of those missions that had a blank spot in the middle of it. It was a very useful technique that he wasn't inclined to share right now. It was actually a low-level, visually cued genjutsu that deflected the eye, making a person not want to look directly at you. If they did see you, they'd forget that you were there later; at most, a person affected by the jutsu would later say that someone was there but they couldn't describe that person.

A stronger version affected more than just sight, by blocking hearing and chakra sensing. But a stronger version also was more easily detectable. That was the problem with most spy techniques, the stronger the jutsu, the more chakra it gave off making a louder 'noise'. A practiced shinobi would look for the 'noise' a technique gave off, and would be able to defeat the technique once they recognized it by the 'noise'.

The normal level for this jutsu had very little 'noise' since it was so low level. It only affected those within line of sight, and the affect was very slight and fairly inoffensive. It was unlikely to be detected and therefore Shikamaru was unlikely to be detected, which was just what he wanted.

Holding the henge in place, he walked home, for once unmolested by radiant hostility. It was a relief to be able to walk down a busy thorough-fair without having to deal with any of those looks and slighting remarks. Only when he reached the safety of his empty home, with the door firmly closed behind him, did the realization of what he had done hit him.

_I just walked through Konoha, my home, under a spy-jutsu._ That was something he'd only had to do in hostile territory before. That he had to do so when he was home, in 'friendly' territory… what did that mean?

He slumped back against the closed door and sank to the floor, face pressed against his knees. He had to treat his home village like hostile territory just so he could be left in peace. _Nope, not setting one foot outside this door for my entire leave time, nu-uh._ He'd gotten that two day leave he'd wanted, in fact he'd had to argue with Tsunade to keep it to just two days. She'd wanted to give him a week off.

_I can't, I can't stay here for that long. If I have to put up with this attitude for that long it'll break me, I know it._ That thought was almost a crushing as the fact that he had to walk home in disguise. He lifted his head and straightened against the door in preparation to stand. The movement made his right pocket crinkle.

Blinking, he reached in and pulled out the envelope stashed there; he'd almost forgotten about Naruto's letter. A smile teased at his lips, those letters from his last true friend were the last link of Shikamaru's sanity, for they were the only consistent bright spot in his life. Ever since Naruto left on his training journey, he'd started writing his friends back in Konoha, sending his letters to Tsunade to hand out to the ones written to. Shikamaru kept up the correspondence, writing back whenever he got the chance.

With an effort, the youth heaved himself to his feet, and stumbled over to the softer seat of the couch. The missions office was in the center of Konoha, the Nara compound was on the outskirts of the city proper. Holding onto the henge for the entire trip home had been exhausting, using up the little strength the Nara youth had left. He leaned his head back against the couch arm, closing his eyes. He'd just rest a moment before finding something to eat and retreating to his room. Only for a moment.

Unsurprisingly, he was asleep within seconds of closing his eyes.

* * *

Not for the first time, Itachi reflected on how clever his young friend was. He kept coming up with rather ingenious techniques. The first was the Kage Wana, and the most recent was the Nakare kan o ware, the one that Itachi was employing at the moment. How else could he infiltrate the best spot to gather information in Konoha, a popular bar? Yes, you read correctly; the best places to gather commonly known information and rumors are bars, the more popular and frequented the better.

Itachi had entered the bar, one popular with Chuunin, Jounin and some Anbu, cloaked in the 'Don't look at me' henge, and hadn't been given a second glance as he made his way to a back corner seat. He'd been very careful to use a stronger version, but not too strong. He'd also been careful to suppress his chakra level to that of a mid-class Jounin. Oh, and no active Sharingan either. That was not something that could be hidden by the henge and it would have been a dead-giveaway.

Not that he needed it; he only needed to keep his ears open while he nursed his bottle of good sake. With a few careful remarks, he steered the direction of the conversation and centered it on the 'Rookie Nine', including Naruto, Sasuke and the focus of Itachi's interest, Shikamaru.

_Interesting_, the opinions were not what he would have thought. Oh, he was expecting a roughly negative opinion of Naruto, given what he was, but not as negative as this. With all that the blonde had done for his friends, Itachi would have thought that a few people at least would see past the Kyuubi's shadow to the normal boy within. Not so with this group at least.

Itachi also thought that with his foolish brother's betrayal, common opinion of him too would be poor. Again, not so, far too many people were willing to try and rationalize irrational behavior, and blame Naruto's influence as well, of course. Itachi took a sip of his sake to try and wash away the bitterness in his mouth.

And then the conversation centered on Shikamaru, and there things got… very interesting. The rumors that he was a horrid failure and a bitter disappointment popped up, and then a pair of patrons in one of the other back corners piped up and started expounding on how the Nara youth was a very clever _traitor_.

Look at how he had endeared himself to the reliable clans of Konoha, and then how he had led them to near death. Only Tsunade's skill had saved the faithful Chouji and the highly skilled Neji. And if relations hadn't been improved with Suna, Kiba and Lee would surly be dead, and hadn't Shikamaru tried to block that alliance by humiliating that Temari girl?

And then these other missions, failure after failure, delay after delay, he certainly wasn't trying to improve Konoha's reputation, not with that kind of record. Itachi grimaced and took another sip; all of the first part was twisted half-truth, but this last bit was a blatant lie. Shikamaru had been completing many of his recent missions successfully and on time, only a small handful had been failed or delayed. This was not unusual; every shinobi sometimes failed or couldn't complete an assignment on time, even Itachi. To be honest, the boy was doing a much better job success rate-wise than the Uchiha had at the same age.

Itachi carefully watched the pair in the corner, a Chuunin and a Jounin by their dress, and if that Chuunin was really a shinobi, Itachi was willing to eat his cup. There was something very wrong about those two; they were spreading too many lies to just have a grudge against Shikamaru, which had been Itachi's first thought. Those two were deliberately smearing the boy's reputation, but why?

The Uchiha poured out a little more sake while he thought about this, what was Shikamaru that he might have enemies? He was the heir to the Nara clan; could these two be agents of a would-be competitor for that title? _No, not a chance, Shikamaru would have been challenged first. And besides, being the head of the Nara clan isn't as prestigious a title as head of Hyuuga or head of Uchiha. Why would anyone go to such great lengths to contest that?_

He was the loyal soldier of Tsunade, but then so were a lot of other people and they were not being attacked like this. He was the first of his class to obtain Chuunin, but that wasn't too unusual a thing to merit this kind of attack. He was an effective agent and, aha!- he was Naruto's determined friend.

Itachi smirked into his cup; that was probably the cause of the attack. Of all the friends Naruto had, only two were unshakable and only one was outspoken and Shikamaru was both. Sakura was an unshakable friend, but she was not as outspoken about Naruto's merits as Shikamaru was. And only Shikamaru had real faith in the blonde boy's ability to be Hokage.

_In fact, he went on at length about that not to long ago._ According to the Nara youth, Naruto was strong, charismatic, idealistic and spiritually tough, able to take criticism without flinching. These were characteristics that a good leader _needed._ Another thing that a leader needed was friends who would fill in his skill gaps. That would be Shikamaru.

The youth had confided his dream to Itachi at the same time that he had pointed out Naruto's potential. Shikamaru wanted to be to Naruto what Shizune was to Tsunade; a confidant, an advisor, sometimes a taskmaster, but otherwise an all-around aid. Itachi could see it. It was easy to see Naruto as Hokage with Shikamaru at his side, helping him with the details that the blonde would be less able at.

But that was the problem; it _was_ easy to see such a thing. And in the politically rife atmosphere of Konoha, there were many people who would do anything to prevent such a thing. Not only was Naruto the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, he was also an advocate of the Sandaime and the Godaime. He would undoubtedly follow their pacific approach, emphasizing economic growth over military power. To some parties, this was utterly unacceptable.

So, apparently, they were moving to stop this by eliminating the opposition. Naruto was out of reach, and Sakura, another person who would help Naruto to the Kage seat, was under Tsunade's watchful eye. The most available target was the outspoken Shikamaru.

Now, assassination was out of the question; not only would that make some party members question the party itself; it would also draw unwanted attention to their far-sighted goals. Not to mention the fact that Shikamaru might eventually change his mind, rendering the killing pointless and a complete waste of time. No, the best way to deal with the boy was to discredit and dishearten him. The most logical weapon for that would be to spread some juicy, believable rumors.

So they did. And it was working. _This is all speculation on my part, but I think I might have hit the real cause here. It just makes too much sense._ Eliminate future competition for the Kage seat by eliminating future support of the candidate. Do so in the most innocent-seeming and untraceable way; by spreading rumor and half-truths and let the villagers do your dirty work.

Itachi finished off the last of his sake in one gulp, grimacing at the bitter taste that the fine sake couldn't wash away. There was nothing that he could do to counter this save what he was already doing, supporting Shikamaru whenever he was out alone. The Uchiha got up to leave; his information was gathered, the most probable cause of the situation identified. Besides, his sake was finished. Time to go.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here sleeping, you lazy coward?!?" A well-known voice shrieked. Shikamaru started awake and was for a moment completely disoriented. He wasn't in his room, he wasn't out in a forest in his bedroll, he wasn't on his favorite hill, so where was he? Then his tired, sleep-blurred eyes focused on the figure in front of him. _Sitting room, couch, and that would be 'Kaa-san back from her own mission. Right._

"I didn't mean to sleep here, I must have been more tired than I thought." He said in a patient tone. Inside though, he felt far from patient. _ She didn't even say 'hi' first, she just lay into me first thing._

"Don't give me that bullshit you ungrateful bastard! I know how you are, sleeping half the day away at the slightest excuse. You haven't even done a single one of the chores on the list that I gave you!" His mother yelled, waving the list in front of his nose. He blinked; she'd given him a chore list when he was on active duty?

"I've only just gotten back from a five-day mission, I never even saw that lis-" He was cut off as his mother let out another stream of abuse. Shikamaru wasn't given another chance to defend himself; each time he tried his mother attacked him again. Each attack was more vicious and cutting than the last and his faint protests only added more fuel to her fire. She went on at great length about all his faults, real, imagined or ones from his childhood that he'd left far behind him. Finally it got too much to bear, and he just turned and ran up the stairs to the dubious safety of his room, locking the door behind him.

_She hates me,_ his mind whispered as he waited to hear if his mother followed him and then stumbled blindly to his bed. _I knew she didn't like me, but I never thought that she'd hate me._ He fell into the reliable comfort of his old bed, grabbing a pillow to bury his face in. _What did I do? I've tried to be good, but I guess it wasn't enough. But what did I do that she _hates_ me?_

Shikamaru and his mother had never really gotten along since his birth. And his birth was the cause. For all of her life, Nara-san had wanted a daughter. She had entered married life planning on giving her husband a son, and giving herself a pretty little girl. Then Shikamaru was born and her plans were painfully erased.

During labor, Shikamaru had been presented breach, twisted in the birth canal the wrong way, preventing normal birth. After several hours of labor, the doctors had preformed Caesarian surgery to pull him out safely, but the damage had already been done. Shikamaru hadn't suffered any from his unusual birth, but his mother on the other hand…

She'd been too torn up inside and even if she wanted to, she could never have a child again. She would never have her daughter. The cause: her first-born, her son. Oh, it wasn't fair or logical to blame a new-born infant for what was honestly just bad luck, but since when has the subconscious mind ever listened to logic?

Ever since then, whenever the boy was around his mother, he'd felt it; the absence of love, the bitter resentment. Whenever he was with her the feeling of 'why did you have to be born?' radiated out of her. The feeling was unmistakable when compared to the warmth and loving acceptance his father gave him.

When he was six, Shikamaru had finally asked the question that had haunted his entire young life: "Why doesn't 'Kaa-san love me?" Shikato, surprised at the rather mature question, had answered in as understandable and truthful a way possible, not even thinking to lie and reassure his son that his mother did love him.

It's hard for a child to be resented by a parent. But it's even harder to be hated by that parent. Shikamaru was usually capable of pushing the pain away and dealing with it, but not this time. Not when he was so incredibly tired, and not when the pain came from so dear a source. He tried to stifle the sobs that tore out of his throat, but couldn't. It was the first time in his life he'd ever cried himself to sleep. It was not an experience that he'd ever wanted to have.

* * *

Sakura wiped her brow with a spare rag, glad that her shift in the hospital was finally done.

"Nice work, Sakura-chan," Shizune said, giving her shoulder a small squeeze, "You're getting much better."

"I should hope so, what with all the practice I'm getting!" The pink-haired teen said, smiling over at her substitute sensei as they started their walk to the Hokage office. Tsunade was often busy with Hokage duties, but that infamous person saw no reason for Sakura's training to be skimped on when Shizune was perfectly capable of over-seeing this initial phase.

So the youngest apprentice to the Hokage often went into the hospital to assist in healing many of the more minor wounds that the residents of Konoha were so skilled in collecting. It was hard, nerve-wracking and often dirty work, but it had to be done by somebody, so why not Sakura? Still, if she had to see one more squalling, squirming child that thought she was a punching bag, accompanied by a hand-wringing parent that scolded her for frightening the precious- _more like worthless- _brat…

Her hands fisted, tingling with chakra. The last time that Tsunade herself had trained with Sakura, she had taught the teenager the trick to that phenomenal strength. Sakura didn't have it all down right now, a great deal of that strength was physical, and she hadn't yet finished her conditioning. But she was getting there, a double-edged boon. Before, when she encountered a spoiled brat in need of a spanking, the urge to do just that was easily suppressed with the knowledge that she couldn't do any real damage. Now though, oh now she could do a little damage.

She and Shizune finished walking up to the Hokage's office and patiently waited to be allowed in. And then patiently waited again for Tsunade to finish reading and signing a few papers. Or at least Sakura had been patient, until she saw a particular envelope signed in a very familiar, if sloppy handwriting. She started to fidget, she couldn't help it. She missed Naruto terribly, surprisingly even more than she missed Sas-

_Don't go there_, she mentally scolded, _just… don't. _

Tsunade sighed while she put the last signed paper in the 'finished' stack and stretched before looking over her apprentices, graduated and newly assigned. The Hokage smiled when she noticed Sakura's frequent glances to a particular envelope.

"Yes, that's what you think it is, he answered early this time." The older woman said to the youngest in the room.

"And his handwriting's improving finally." Sakura said, unable to admit her fond feelings for the absent blonde.

"Well, he's getting plenty of practice between you and Shikamaru." Tsunade's eye grew unexpectedly sad. Sakura stifled panic; busy as she was in the hospital, she missed hearing many of the latest events until after everything was resolved one way or another. So if Shikamaru had been hurt again, or worse, she might not hear about until she was told by Tsunade or Shizune.

"Shikamaru's okay, right?" She asked a little nervously.

"Huh? Oh, yes… just…"

"Just what? If there's anything I can do to help…"

Tsunade smiled again, sadly, "There's really not much you can do about gossip. I mentioned that to you right, that someone's spreading vile rumors about him?"

"Yes you did, but why would that be of concern? They're just rumors." Sakura answered, unconcerned. Shikamaru was too clever and strong-willed to let rumors affect him.

"They're just rumors until they're believed, and then they become a potent attack. Especially if those you're close to believe them, which regretfully is the case."

Sakura blinked in dumbfounded shock, jaw dropping slightly. How could anyone believe that Shikamaru, _Shikamaru_, could be such a terrible failure and worse, a traitor? It was ridiculous. Oh yes, Sakura was embarrassed to admit, even if only to herself, that she had thought poorly of the Nara right after he had failed to retrieve Sasuke, but she'd gotten over that.

It had been her own pain and guilt talking, lashing out at any available target, and something within her had shrunk from the mere thought of attacking Naruto in any way after seeing how badly he'd been hurt trying to keep his promise. So she'd 'attacked' Shikamaru instead, shunning him for a time. Then she'd gotten busy with her training, and simply hadn't had the time to see anyone lately. She'd get up; go to the hospital and get home late dragging with fatigue. If she was given a day off, she'd spend most of it resting and reading scrolls.

But now she was used to her schedule and was mostly over her pain, taking her anger out at the legitimate targets of Orochimaru, for enticing Sasuke, of Itachi, for warping Sasuke's childhood, and of Sasuke himself, for allowing himself to be corrupted.

How could she blame Shikamaru for unavoidable crimes of inexperience and lack of information, both of which had helped lead to the failure of the mission? The simple answer was that she couldn't. And think him a traitor? Impossible, she'd seen his record when she'd been looking over all of her friends, and had compared his to others. He had more successes than any other Chuunin his age or experience. He had successfully completed sensitive missions that others had failed, many times over. That was not the record of a traitor or a failure

"Well," Tsunade said, breaking Sakura out of her indignant thoughts, "there is one thing you could do to help him. You could be his friend, and help him defeat these stupid rumors. According to your school record, you were once the victim of rumor and gossip yourself, weren't you?" Tsunade smiled knowingly at that last part while Sakura ducked her head, blushing. Someone had been telling, and that someone #_cough_# Ino #_cough_# was going to pay.

"I- yes and it would help him a lot to know that there's one friend at least standing beside him. I remember how much it helped just knowing that Ino was my friend, even when she wasn't there when those gossipy brats took after me."

"Good, well, Shikamaru's on two-day leave and you've been working your butt off, so I'm giving you the same. So here-" Tsunade tossed Naruto's letter to her, "-get moving and take your leave, you won't be getting another like it for a while."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am." Sakura said impishly, saluting over-dramatically. Her actions got the expected laugh and she headed down out of the tower towards home, plotting on how she could possibly help Shikamaru. Should she ask him to help her with her ninjutsu? No, apparently he was exhausted, again. Strategy maybe, she wasn't too bad at Go, so maybe she could play a few rounds of that, dissecting her technique, or lack there of. Yes, that would work. But that was for tomorrow, now she needed to eat and get to bed, she was tired. But before even that, she wanted to see what mayhem Naruto-baka was up to.

Upon reaching her house, she opened the letter and read while she slowly headed for a chair. Naruto's handwriting was still atrocious, but that was to be expected, given the handicap that she hadn't even suspected he had. No one had taught him to read or write, he'd taught himself with the help of the few lessons the Academy gave.

The Academy worked upon the assumption that its students' parents would be the primary teachers of reading and writing. Naruto didn't have parents, and no one to teach him. Given his lack of an academic bent, no wonder his writing skills sucked. The greater wonder was that he could read and write at all.

_I'm helping now of course. Late, but I'm helping._ When she had learned of Naruto's handicap, she had taken it upon herself to edit Naruto's letters, correcting his spelling and grammar and sending corrected copies back to him. Since there had been no protest, and the absent blonde's ability was slowly improving, Sakura could only assume that Naruto was grateful.

But as she read past the usual boasts and colorful descriptions of some of the things he'd seen, Sakura started to frown at what she read.

"_-Shikamaru sounded really deperessed in his last letter and he made a mention of some stupid rumors. It's not like him to complain about anything personal, only what's annoying in genral. I'm kinda worried about him, do you think that you could, I dunno, help him? Listen to him complain and give him some advice or something? I know your real busy and so's he, but I worried he might do something real real stupid.-"_

A second call to help the Nara boy, right after the first and both from a source that she wasn't inclined to ignore. She folded the letter back up; for once not bothering to find a pen to edit the more glaring spelling errors she'd seen. She'd help Shikamaru, in the morning, but she'd help him.

* * *

Dawn light filtered into Shikamaru's room, striking his eyes. With a grown, he slowly opened them, blinking tear-gunk out of them. Some inner prompting was telling him he should get up and moving, but he didn't want to. Getting up meant leaving his room and he might run into his mother if he did that. The cold lump that sprung up at the thought killed the budding hunger he was starting to feel.

He glanced out the window again and realized how stupid he was being right now, there was no way that his mother would be up right now; it was far too early. He'd better take advantage of that fact and get something to eat before the day progressed and his mother awoke.

Carefully, Shikamaru slide out of bed and eased open his door. He paused, all was quiet. Still carefully, he snuck down the stairs, cautiously skipping the three steps that always creaked when stepped on. He reached the kitchen and scanned the fridge for food; there was leftover rice and some egg flower soup, probably extra from his mother's dinner last night due to the freshness.

Hastily, he made rice-balls, ate them and the soup quickly and snuck back up stairs. He was about to retreat back to his room when he caught a whiff of himself. Ugh, no way; he was going to take a shower first. Even if that risked waking his mother, being clean would be worth it. He crept into the upstairs shower, locked the door firmly behind him and stripped in preparation. He caught a glimpse of movement, and his frayed nerves made him whirl, crouching into a battle-ready stance instinctively.

But what Shikamaru had seen was a reflection of himself in the mirror. For a moment, all he could do was stare at the stranger reflected there. He was so thin, his ribs showing clearly. And the scars, where had he gotten all those scars? His mind only too readily replayed the various fights he'd been in at that thought, but still, how could he, only fourteen and no prominent fighter, have collected all those scars? Then he glanced at his face, and his expression became painfully rueful; he could give Gaara stiff competition for baggy eyes at the moment.

Enough, he looked like shit, what else was he expecting? Food and rest should take care of a few problems at least. He climbed into the shower and quickly scrubbed down, dried off and snuck back into his room. Still safe, his mother hadn't woken up.

But the fact that he not only had to treat the city, but his own home as hostile territory made a lump in his throat that he couldn't dislodge. It wasn't fair, what had he done wrong that he was being treated this way? Shikamaru lay down in his bed and stared up at his ceiling, eyes tracing the familiar lines of the few cracks in the plaster.

He ran over the things he had done, starting with the failed mission to retrieve Sasuke. Yes, that mission and a handful of others had been failures, but he'd compared his record with those of other shinobi, and he really wasn't doing too bad a job. The Sasuke retrieval mission had really been out of his league, newly promoted and with only young Genin in his team. That they'd all come out alive was a friggin' miracle, actually.

All his other missions that he'd failed were either of that stamp, beyond his ability, or unavoidable failures. He honestly couldn't be faulted for those, could he? Maybe…

While mussing over these thoughts, Shikamaru made the mistake of closing his eyes while his body lay prone. Naturally, he fell asleep, again.

* * *

It was only a few hours after his eyes had closed that Shikamaru was jolted awake again. This time he wasn't being yelled at, thankfully. Instead, his mother was creating the most ungodly racket downstairs. He thought she was cooking, or cleaning, or something, he wasn't sure. He only knew that he couldn't sleep through it, his hair-trigger nerves wouldn't let him. Each thump made him jump. So he read Naruto's letter instead.

Naruto had a lot of different funny stories in his latest letter, exploits of his sensei Jiraiya, different failed attempts at various techniques and other things. It made Shikamaru wish that he was traveling with the blonde instead of being stuck here dealing with malicious gossip. At the end of the letter, Naruto asked how Shikamaru was doing, had he recovered from Itachi's attack? Was he getting along well with everyone?

Shikamaru bit his lip and felt his throat close up. Naruto was asking after his health and happiness, something that his own mother wasn't doing. Drawing in a shaky breath, Shikamaru set Naruto's letter aside to answer later, when his emotions were more under control. It wasn't like him to be so easily unsettled by such a small thing as a question after his health, it was just that he was still so tired…

There was another loud thump and series of rattles downstairs. It sounded like a fight, but when Shikamaru stretched his senses, he only felt his mother's steady chakra signature. His mother was a respectable Chuunin in her own right, her chakra signature was unmistakable. Equally unmistakable was the fact that she was upset about something, but not fighting.

Best for Shikamaru to stay where he was, even though he was hungry, and bored. Well, he could solve the boredom problem easily enough. He rolled off of his bed and fished underneath it to bring out two shoe boxes. One held all of his childhood treasures; he opened it just to look at the collection of pretty rocks, bird nests and other bits and odd ends. Sighing nostalgically, he closed the box and shoved it back under his bed. The second box held all the letters Naruto had sent him.

Both of Shikamaru's parents didn't want him to have anything to do with the traveling blonde, and had told him so decisively when he had received the first letter. Usually, Shikamaru was obedient to his parents' wishes, but not this time, no way. So he had asked Tsunade if she'd be so kind as to hold onto Naruto's letters until Shikamaru himself could pick them up. She hadn't asked why he had asked for that, but he had a feeling that she understood his reasons. It was depressing.

But Naruto's letters themselves most certainly weren't depressing, quite the opposite in fact. They held all of Naruto's light-hearted optimism and love of life in the written words, a nice antidote to what Shikamaru had to live with. He spent an enjoyable interlude rereading them while waiting for his mother to leave, or go take a nap, or something.

Finally, he heard the front door open and slam shut and felt his mother's signature leave the house. He hid the letters back under the bed, except for the newest one. That he hid in some papers on his desk, so that he could respond to it later. Then he gathered up his laundry, he had nothing worth wearing in public right now, everything was either dirty or almost rags. He'd eat while they were in the wash.

It was all quickly done, leaving Shikamaru with time on his hands. He was still tired, but not sleepy for once. Steeling his courage, he decided to see if Chouji or Ino were in town and see it they were willing to be friendly. But before he even stepped out the door, he put his 'Don't look at me' henge on. Just to be safe.

It took a while, but he found Chouji and Ino sitting outside the barbeque joint that they had frequented as a team. He dispelled his henge and walked up.

"Hi guys." He called, trying to act normal, but inside he was suppressing desperation. They glanced over at him.

"Uh, hi…" Chouji answered weakly. Ino glared and then turned her head, pony tail flipping over her shoulder.

"Oh, so Mr. Chuunin-sama(1) finally decides to show up." She snapped primly. "And just when we don't need him anymore."

"I've been busy." He explained, stifling the hurt, "Did something happen that I missed?"

Ino sniffed, "Only another Chuunin exam that you didn't even show up for."

"There was another exam so soon?" He asked, glancing desperately at Chouji for support. The other boy avoided his gaze.

"Yes, not that you would care, seeing as you're already one and way above _us_ now." Ino huffed.

"Ino, I didn't know about it, no one told me." Shikamaru tried to explain, spreading his hands helplessly while he moved in front of Ino, trying to catch her gaze instead. Ino turned her head away again.

"You could have asked, but you couldn't be bothered with that could you? Oh, no, _you're_ too busy with your _missions_."

"I've told you, I can't help how I'm assigned. I've _told _you!" He swallowed to try and steady himself and asked in a more normal tone, "So, how did you do? In the exam I mean."

"Oh, now he asks. I guess Mr. Analytical can't even see that we don't have vests." Ino snarled. Shikamaru winced and glanced over at Chouji again, but his former best friend still wouldn't meet his eyes(2).

"Not everyone likes wearing the vest, so I thought…" Finally, Ino met his gaze to give him a disgusted look. For whatever reason, this was too much. "Look, forget I asked, forget I even came here! Just- forget it!" He yelled, throwing his hands up in his own disgust before stalking away.

His anger didn't last long though; it was overwhelmed by his increasingly heavy depression. His back hunched against the oppressive atmosphere and he tucked his hands in his pockets to shield them from the cold that was more emotional that environmental. In his upset, distracted state, he completely forgot to reset the henge.

"You're pretty bold to be walking around like this!" Someone yelled from right in front of him. Shikamaru had been staring at the ground just in front of his feet, so he hadn't noticed the people around him. He looked up, he didn't know this person, but he was pretty sure that he was one of the many Inuzuka clansmen Konoha boasted. This person did not look happy, or kind.

"What?" Shikamaru asked numbly. The Inuzuka snarled, a good expression for someone with fangs.

"I said that you're pretty bold, _traitor_, to be walking around _here_!" The Inuzuka growled, approaching aggressively. Shikamaru backed away, staring in surprise. "You think we don't know about you? You think we're just going to let it slide? You nearly got my cousin killed, you bastard, and you think we're going to let you get away with it? Huh!"

Shikamaru's mouth worked soundlessly. He was completely stunned by this turn of events. It was one thing to whispered about and glared at, to have his friends shun him but this? To be challenged for something he hadn't done? Why? Why couldn't they just see that he was being lied about? And why couldn't they just leave him alone?

There was a crowd growing around them, it was a busy commercial area after all. Shikamaru quickly glanced about, but there was no one there that looked friendly or sympathetic. Quite the contrary, there were many angry and approving looks on those unfriendly faces. Shikamaru felt something die inside.

"Aren't you going to answer me?" The Inuzuka roared angrily, face barely inches from the Nara's.

"I already know that nothing I say will change your mind. Nothing I've said for months has changed anything." He murmured in response, not even trying to hide his pain. He didn't even see the other's fist move, he only know that after he made his response he was suddenly doubled over the other's fist. His breath flew out in a whoosh and he gasped to try and refill his emptied, aching lungs.

The Inuzuka fisted his other hand in Shikamaru's hair and yanked him up, glaring hatefully. The crowd mocked and called encourage and approval from the sides. The Nara felt more of himself die inside as the calls reached his ears and he saw his attacker grin in anticipation of his beating. The other fist was raised in preparation for a second blow and Shikamaru just closed is eyes, waiting. What good did fighting do? He was so damned tired…

_WHAM!_ Someone's fist impacted a face, but the face wasn't Shikamaru's and the fist wasn't the Inuzuka's. The Inuzuka went flying, releasing Shikamaru's hair but not before the youth was knocked off balance. The boy gaped up at his defender.

"Asuma-sensei?" He asked. His sensei gave him a brief encouraging look before glaring down at the Inuzuka who was wiping the blood from his mouth and glaring.

"What the fuck-?" The dog fighter demanded, rising, and then ducking as Asuma aimed a kick at him.

"You stay down you incompetent moron! How dare you start a brawl in the streets? And over some filthy rumors! Don't you have a brain?" The Jounin demanded, standing protectively between his student and the attacker. Shikamaru slowly and unsteadily rose to his feet. The crowd was still there, and it was angry. The Nara kept his eyes down, least a show of confidence incite the crowd into a mob.

"Every single one of those rumors is completely and utterly false!" Asuma continued, "If you'd even bothered to once ask the Hokage or one of her trusted assistants you would have learned that. Shikamaru didn't nearly kill your cousin Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke and the Sound did! Why aren't you going after them? Not convenient enough for you?"

The Inuzuka cautiously rose to his feet outside of Asuma's range, glaring even more hatefully at Shikamaru. The Nara looked away, and caught a glimpse of Ino and Chouji. Ino was pulling Chouji back away from the edge of the crowd, and Chouji wasn't resisting. Within seconds, they were lost from sight. Even with Asuma's clear support, they weren't willing to lend a hand.

Shikamaru wondered at the fact that he was still breathing, for it felt as if there was nothing still alive inside. He couldn't take this anymore, Asuma wasn't defending _him_, no Asuma was fighting against rumors that were as damaging to the Jounin's reputation as the Chuunin's. Shikamaru reset his henge and slipped away, heading for the most distant and least visited training grounds.

Thanks to the henge, no one noticed or stopped him and he quickly left the fight scene and the center of Konoha far behind him. Once he was safe in the training grounds, away from prying eyes, the tears came. He tried to stop them, it wasn't manly. But they wouldn't be stopped no matter how he scrubbed at his rebelliously tearing eyes.

_Boys don't cry, _he thought, and then remember that that was something his mother always told him. Had she told him that because that's what she believed, or had she said that because she didn't want to be bothered caring for a crying child? That thought only made the tears fall faster. But he was too tired to cry for long.

He reached the shelter of a bush covered field, and worked his way to the heart of one of the thickest bushes. He'd been here before and knew that once you got past the outer branches there was a clear space inside just large enough for one slim teenaged boy to sit. As an added bonus, the ground was covered with thick dry leaves and pine needles from a tree above the bush. It was almost comfortable there.

_There's no way that Ino or Chouji will have anything to do with me anymore._ He thought, mind turning back to the fight. He knew that they'd be certain that Asuma's defense was just one more piece of evidence towards favoritism. It wasn't, none of it was; but they both were certain, Ino especially, that Asuma favored Shikamaru and that the youth's advancement to Chuunin so quickly was proof.

But it was circumstances, not favoritism, that made the bulk of the 'evidence'. Ino's mother was the shopkeeper of the flower shop her family owned. Chouji's mother was the chief cook of a bakery that his family owned. Shikamaru's mother was a reliable Chuunin. Even if all of their father's were away on a mission, Ino and Chouji could count on the fact that their respective mothers would be there when they got home. For Shikamaru, it was fifty-fifty, maybe his mother would be there, maybe she wouldn't.

So it was not uncommon for Shikamaru to stay after the day's missions and training were done to spend time with Asuma-sensei; why would he rush home to an empty house. So in a way, yes Asuma did train Shikamaru more in the youth's special talent, his strategic mind, but it wasn't favoritism. If Ino or Chouji had stayed after to play Asuma's favorite game, they would have been welcome. But they didn't, so it looked like favoritism.

And then there had been that handful of times when Shikamaru had been injured in training or on a mission, and neither parent had been there. So Asuma had taken Shikamaru home with him so that the boy would be looked after. This was actually one of the duties that all of the sensei's had to do, to make certain that the students were properly cared for. Usually, only orphans were given this treatment, which was much more understandable to the other students. But here, again, it looked like favoritism. And again it wasn't.

Shikamaru took in a shaky breath and hunched up more in his vest. There was a touch of winter in the fall air, easily shrugged off under normal circumstances, but Shikamaru was tired, and he'd never liked the cold anyway. It was growing dark, time to go home; maybe his mother would be in a better mood now. _Yeah right._

The youth worked his way out of the bush and headed home under his henge, picking leaves out of his hair and off of his clothes. He walked in, calling out the customary greeting will he took off his sandals. His mother descended on him like a vengeance crazed demon.

"Where the hell have you been all afternoon?" She demanded.

"Out, seeing Chouji and Ino." _For all the good that did,_ he added silently. Going to see his former teammates was legitimate at least, surely his mother couldn't find fault in that.

"When you had chores to do?" She countered, holding up the list. _Crap, I completely forgot about that!_

"I can still do them now…" He offered, reaching for the list. She snatched it away from him.

"Oh, now he offers, after half of the chores are done, by _me_, and the other half are no longer needed." She ripped the list in half, for some reason this made Shikamaru wince. She stalked away to the fireplace, leaving her son to pick up the shredded paper. He did so and meekly threw the fragments into the small fire.

"Oh, and that reminds me," His mother spoke up sweetly. Shikamaru cringed, wondering what he'd done to merit _that _tone of voice, it never boded well. "One of the chores was to clean your room, which I did for you." Shikamaru cautiously nodded, keeping his head down.

"I found these while I was doing that." She held up the letters from Naruto. Shikamaru felt his blood run cold.

"Th-tho-those are-" He stuttered.

"Filth!" She hissed, throwing them in the fire. Shikamaru let out an inarticulate cry, lunging for the letters. Too late, they were already burning. A hand gripped his shoulder painfully and swung him around to face his mother. "Didn't your father and I tell you that you were to stay away from that monster? Didn't we tell you not to have anything to do with him? And you still received, and _kept!-_ letters from that thing?!"

"He's not a thing!" Shikamaru yelled back, throwing off his mother's hand, "He's not a monster! He's a good person, a friend! And it's none of your damned business any way! How dare you-!"

_CRACK!_

Shikamaru's head was snapped back, his body forced back a pace. He felt a trickle of blood leak out the corner of his mouth and saw his mother's closed fist at the edge of his vision. She'd hit him, not slapped him, not shaken him, but _hit_ him. He slowly turned his head to stare at her fully, not quite believing.

She glared at him through narrowed eyes, not in the least regretful. "How dare _you-_" she hissed evenly, hatefully, "-talk back to me that way?"

Shikamaru said nothing. He wiped the blood from his mouth, turned his back and went to his room. He carefully locked the door, noted coldly that nothing had been cleaned or put away, and packed the few things that still meant anything to him. Tomorrow he was going to the missions office to request a long-term mission.

When he got back, he was going to collect his savings, a lot since he rarely bought anything, and get an apartment. When he was promoted from Junior Chuunin to Mid or even Senior Chuunin, he was going to ask for a re-assignment. He was never going to set foot back in this place ever again.

* * *

(1) Mr. Chuunin-sama: I know that that's _really_ bad grammar. I don't care, I was after the effect that the sounds make.

(2) The reason behind Ino's and Chouji's behavior: Ino's having a, ah, _bad_ month, PMS wise, and Chouji knows this, that's why he didn't speak up, he was trying to not get his head bitten off and thought that Shika was capable of handling Ino's attitude the way he usually does. Little did either one know how their behavior would affect their oft missing comrade.

Kan-look

Nakare-do not

Ware-me

O-at

Nakare kan o ware no jutsu: Don't look at me no jutsu

Kage: Shadow

Wana: Trap

Kage Wana no jutsu: Art of the Shadow Trap

Shika: I hate you.

A.S.: #Chuu# Love you too, cutie.

Shika: Ugh.

A.S.: Aside from building up the relationship between Itachi and Shika, I'm also trying to build up Shika's disassociation with Konoha. I can't say much more than that, but this chapter is needed development for what will come in later chapters. Hope everything seemed to work out. For discrepancies, message me about them and I'll try and explain, and/or fix. Ja!

Shika: I so hate that woman… look what she's doing to my life!

Itachi: Don't worry too much, I'm willing to make it _all_ better for you…

Shika: EEP!


	4. Bonding

Chap 4: All of you who have been waiting for this chapter hereby as of now have free license to hit me and hit me _hard. _I have been keeping you waiting for far too long and none of you deserve that. I'm sorry. #braces self for abuse#. You can hit me now….

* * *

Munin regarded the scene beneath him with curiosity. It was unusual for the Raven's human partner to be interested in someone outside of his work, and the boy that he wanted the Raven to watch seemed worthy of that interest. This _Shikamaru_ person was certainly the center of much action. Like this fight for instance with the Inuzuka clansman was just one interesting incident.

The youth was clearly too wearied from overwork to put up a decent fight, his apparent surrender, while cowardly-seeming, was the right choice if he wished to escape real injury. Usually the assailant would grow bored and go away. Although Hugin, Munin's more raucous brother, didn't want to just watch the boy get hurt. Munin had to warn him off, and was puzzled by the need to do so. First Itachi, and now Hugin? What was with the boy that he could charm people into becoming defending champions?

_Ah_, here came another defendant, a middle aged man that somewhat resembled a bear, what with his beard and strong, sturdy build. Munin flinched at the strong punch the bear-man wielded, the Raven wouldn't want to be hit by that. He was surprised that the Inuzuka was able to stand up after that hit.

The attacker and the defender were arguing now, and oh, there went the boy. Munin couldn't help but agree with his human, Itachi. The boy was very clever with the jutsu's he made. It was difficult for even he, Munin, Son of the Morrigana Raven of the Shikigami Raven demon clan, to see the boy when he cloaked himself in his confusion jutsu.

Munin was torn now, watch the boy, or watch his defender and ex-friends. He hadn't missed the appearance, and disappearance of the former teammates. Hugin took off, calling scolds down on the noisy humans while he flew in the general direction of the boy. Ah, so the decision was made, Hugin would look after the boy, and Munin would watch the bear-man.

The bear-man, a Jounin by his dress and demeanor, punished the Inuzuka, assigning him petty, demeaning chores, and then he turned to look for the missing boy. He found the missing teammates first, and lay into them hard.

The scolds were quite censorious, and not even the upset tears of the blonde female could sway his righteous anger. He did not care that she was on her monthly cycle, she should have been kinder to her hardworking teammate. And the overweight boy should have been willing to risk her wrath to reassure the other boy.

A pink haired female came up to them then and asked after the missing Shikamaru. She had looked for him everywhere, seeking him out at his usual haunts and even going all the way out to the Nara compound to ask for him. She shuddered, she didn't think much of the mother, and thought more of the boy that he was as nice as he was with that woman as a 'role model'.

The bear-man sensei, Asuma, told her that Shikamaru had been here and gone, and that he was worried about the boy. He'd appreciate her help in looking for the missing boy. The look at the other two said that he _expected _their help whether they were willing or not.

They went looking, and Munin followed at a discrete distance. Not that anyone expected a blackbird, as he was disguising himself as, to be of any threat. He watched, and listened. The sensei was really worried about the boy, who, Munin thought, had become near as dear as a son to him. Given what the Raven knew of their collective past, that was to be expected. Humans could not spend as much time together as these two had without either growing to love or hate each other.

That included his two other students, yes he was mad at them and had scolded them severely, but he didn't hate them, nor they him. They appeared to be chastised only, and were now looking for their missing comrade with good energy. But he wasn't to be found.

Munin's connection with his hyperactive brother showed that the boy was well hidden and wouldn't be found. Between natural camouflage, a good hiding place and the Nakare kan o ware, Munin would be very surprised if the boy was located before he was ready.

The Raven wondered if he should still watch the former teammates and leader, he knew how they felt about the boy, and that the pink haired girl was also concerned. Itachi would be interested to know that, and whether or not that concern was reaching the boy. It wasn't, right now, but it might later.

_Yes, he'll want to hear this report,_ Munin thought, working his way deep into a decorative shrub and disappeared.

* * *

Out at the border of the Fire lands, there was a small village that was entirely unique. At first glance, it looked just like any other border village. It had a small population; it was largely independent, handling most of its needs with its own labor and so on. In truth, there was nothing different about this village, save in one small, over-looked area; its loyalty.

While all other villages in the Fire lands were utterly loyal to Konoha and the Daimyo, this one was loyal to another power and another individual entirely. It was loyal to Akastsuki and to Uchiha Itachi.

Many years ago, just after Itachi had joined Akastsuki, he and his then partner had been sent to collect a rogue demon. The Bijuu demon he and his partner were to collect was of the worst kind, one that had been bound into a human and had fully merged with its host.

This demon had been terrorizing a small border village, killing all who would go for help. No one even knew the demon was there, so no one knew to help the poor villagers. And then Akastsuki came.

Itachi and his partner subdued and bound their prey successfully after two days of fighting. Civilian casualties had been kept to a minimum, mostly due to Itachi's efforts. He despised unnecessary deaths. The villagers had been pathetically grateful, and had celebrated their liberation to the full extent of their limited abilities.

To Itachi, the celebration was gratifying, if more than a little embarrassing, and a welcome chance to rest and relax after a hard mission. To his partner, the celebration was a chance to satisfy his… less savory appetites. Itachi's partner at that time was none other then the Genius Snake Sennin, Orochimaru.

One of the people that was serving Orochimaru food and drink had been a nine year old boy. Itachi had kept a careful eye on his partner and had noticed the Snake's unhealthy interest in the boy. When Orochimaru grabbed the child with a lecherous gleam in his eye, the Uchiha had made his move.

Itachi had wrestled the traumatized boy away from the Snake, but not before everyone knew just what had been planned for the child. The two super powers had faced off, glaring; Orochimaru using all of his intimidating aura, Itachi using all of the as yet unexplored power of his Sharingan.

Orochimaru had looked away first and had left immediately after. Itachi had stayed another day to clean things up at the village, he never left a task half done, and dragged back the unconscious demon. When he'd gotten back to the Akastsuki head quarters, Itachi found out that he had traded partners with Sasori. Now the Snake was partnered with the Scorpion, and Itachi was partnered with Kisame. The Uchiha was soon very grateful.

After that day, the border village had sworn undying gratitude and loyalty to Itachi and all he swore by. Because all that Itachi asked of the village was hospitality and whatever information they could share, that gratitude and loyalty was undiminished, in fact some could say it was even greater than it had been, with Itachi becoming the villager's personal hero. It was all very embarrassing.

It was at this village that Itachi had left his current partner, Kisame, while he had gone to 'gather information'. Well, it wasn't a lie, Itachi had gathered a great deal of information, and much of it could be useful to his leader if properly used. And none of what Itachi had been doing would seem suspicious to the organization. Kisame was hopeless at information gathering, he stood out too much and had too violent a temper and knew it. His staying behind while Itachi did the information gathering was a well established pattern for the two.

Itachi reached the entrance to the small village and was greeted by the same young boy, now fifteen, that he had rescued all those years ago. The boy looked up at him with blatantly worshiping eyes as Itachi looked down at him. A quaint peasant child, sturdily built with sun tanned features, and rather blank, unthinking eyes. The Uchiha found himself wishing for the company of another boy, a year younger but with a far more mature and intelligent gaze.

"I'm here to collect my partner," Itachi said to the child.

"Okay! I know where he is! I'll show you!" The boy said, sprinting off, eager to impress his hero. The 'hero' Itachi regarded the figure with patient amusement, not in the least impressed. The boy led the Uchiha to a clearing near the village square where the market and a few fairs took place. Right now there was nothing there, which made it a perfect place for Kisame to do his daily exercises. He had an audience; no matter how often the Shark came here and did his exercises, he'd still have an audience.

Itachi found a spot to watch and wait, critically studying his partner's movements. There wasn't much to criticize; Kisame was an expert swordsman and warrior. His movements tended to be heavy and slow, but the Shark was working towards speed and agility, becoming a little faster and a little more flexible each day. That's what made the two such good partners; Itachi was fast and agile in terms of physical combat, filling in Kisame's lack. In terms of jutsu, Itachi favored genjutsu, while Kisame favored Suiton jutsu. Odd as it seemed, the two meshed quite nicely. But the most important fact was that the two never stopped trying to improve themselves, a trait that all true warriors should have.

The mayor of the village, a surprisingly young man in his mid-thirties, came up to Itachi's side and waited to be acknowledged. After a moment, Itachi nodded his head to the man.

"Hiroshi-san," The Uchiha said.

"Itachi-sama," The man replied, "I have a small amount of news to share, mostly gossip…"

"You know what I've said in the past." Itachi pointed out after the hesitation.

"'No knowledge is ever wasted,' I know." The plain featured man said with a small smile. "One of these days I'm going to prove you wrong with all of my idle gossip." Itachi allowed himself a snort of skepticism, it paid to try and mimic normal behavior while around the peasant class as they tended to get overawed rather easily.

"Tell me," Itachi ordered politely. The mayor launched into a recitation of gossip from beyond the boarders regarding alliances, who was buddying up with whom, which nation was glaring at which and so on. The inner nation gossip was also interesting, apparently Danzou's party was becoming more active and was also said to be grooming a replacement for the current Hokage. _Very, very interesting._

If Itachi had wanted proof that there was a faction actively angling to make sure that Naruto never became Hokage, this was the closest he was going to get without it being some form of physical evidence. Danzou's party had _hated_ the Sandaime and had damn near vilified the Yondaime. They had wanted Orochimaru in the Tower and anyone else may as well have been a heretic to their eyes. Undoubtedly to them, the thought of Naruto ever obtaining the Hokage seat was the darkest of nightmares. So, anyone who was likely to help him there had to be dealt with _now._ Thus, Shikamaru's persecution. It made plenty of sense, to Itachi at least.

"Thank you, Hiroshi-san, you have yet to prove me wrong." Itachi said. The man let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes. Kisame, who had just finished his kata, came over and cocked his head curiously.

"Did I miss something, again?" The big man asked.

"Nothing of great importance this time." Itachi reassured. Kisame grunted and adjusted his sword.

"Boss sent a message while you were out, we're to head back as soon as you're done."

"Let's be off then." Itachi said before turning and thanking Hiroshi for his hospitality. Kisame thanked him gruffly as well, one of the reasons the shark man was a welcomed guest. Hiroshi protested that it was his honor and duty to see them comfortable. Itachi thanked him, nonetheless, the reason that _he_ was still welcome and even wanted after all these years. After that, the two warriors headed off.

Itachi felt himself start to relax for the first time since he'd left Kisame's presence. It was nothing major, he didn't drop his guard entirely, it was just that he didn't have to watch out for everything by himself anymore, his partner would watch and guard his side as he would guard his partner's in turn. Of all the partnerships in Akastsuki, Itachi and Kisame were the best, the most respectful of each other and all it had taken was acknowledgement of each other's skills and an unspoken promise that they wouldn't betray each other.

And neither one would betray the other, there was no reason for it. All that either of the two really wanted was to get stronger in his own arts, nothing else. Therefore there was no conflict and much that could be improved with cooperation. There was no _need_ for treachery, and really, neither Kisame nor Itachi wanted to have to watch his own back while waiting to be stabbed by the other. It was so much more _restful_ to just trust each other, to an extent, and work with each other. Maybe that was the real reason they got along so well, both acknowledged that treachery without a real reason was just too _annoying_ to bother with.

Over time, that basic acknowledgement became cautious trust, and respect became a distant breed of- not affection, but camaraderie. If you put either one on the spot- and good luck with that!- and demanded to know what the other really meant to him, both would grudgingly admit that they thought of each other as friends. But mostly they were shield brothers and comrades-in-arms. Their relationship was odd, but it worked and satisfied a craving within each for simple, sensible companionship. Hence the reason that Itachi was willing to relax while in Kisame's company. He knew that his partner wouldn't kill him because then the shark wouldn't have his sensible partner anymore.

"So," Kisame said as the two entered the tree line and took the upper highway, aka: leaping on the large, sturdy tree branches. "What are you up to now? And don't deny that you're up to something, I can tell when you're on a project."

Itachi stifled an amused smirk, "I wouldn't call it a project as such…" He trailed off and caught Kisame's 'not funny' glare. "It would be more accurate to say that I'm attempting to cultivate something."

"Oh yeah? Cultivate what?" Kisame asked.

"Also I'm gathering information," Itachi continued, ignoring Kisame's question entirely, "Apparently there's a great deal of political unrest within Konoha, which may be very useful, seeing as Naruto-kun is at the heart of the controversy."

Kisame had been about to demand to know why Itachi was ignoring him, but the reference to politics made him break off with a groan. "Politics again, arg."

"Agreed." Itachi said, "Still, it can be useful if the opposing side succeeds in driving Naruto-kun away, unlikely as that may be."

"Yeah, cause isn't the current Hokage a fangirl of his?" Kisame asked in all innocence. Itachi permitted his features to gain a pained expression.

"Kisame, please. The Hokage is in her fifties and Naruto-kun is only fourteen!"

Kisame coughed in a very amused fashion. Tweaking Itachi's tail was one of his more enjoyable pastimes, although he was careful not to cross the mutually acknowledged line. The Uchiha didn't need to use his Magenkyou to break someone's mind with illusions.

"Yeah, sure, alright, age difference and all that, but still, the Hokage is on the 'Naruto's my best friend' bandwagon ain't she?" Kisame asked.

"Yes, she is." Itachi replied, placated by the concession, for now, "As are several others in key positions. Many of the heirs of powerful clans are friends and staunch supporters of his."

"So he ain't gonna get kicked out anytime soon then. Damn, and we can't get to him until the Jiraiya bastard backs off, grr."

"Indeed," Itachi agreed. "So for now, we may as well focus on your demon."

Kisame paused a moment to engage in wanton deforestation to vent some of his frustration. Not that Itachi didn't understand completely. Information on the Hachibi, the Eight-tailed demon, was lacking. None of Kisame's sources could find anything on it past the fact that it had disappeared ten years ago. The Uchiha had diverted a few of his information sources to assist Kisame's and they had gotten roughly the same thing. Itachi's informants had managed to narrow down an area, but that mightn't be concrete. If the demon had been sealed into something, it could have been moved from that area, meaning it could have ended up anywhere or might still be traveling. Hence, Kisame's frustration.

_I know where the Kyuubi is, but I can't reach him due to his guardians. Kisame could probably easily acquire his, if we knew where it was. Everything's at a standstill for now, which is not something individuals as active as Kisame and I are, appreciates. So why shouldn't we indulge ourselves in something diverting, like unnecessary deforestation?_

"Feel better?" Itachi asked once Kisame stopped turning forest giants into sawdust.

"A bit, yeah," The shark said, panting a little, "Wouldn't mind a spar later on though."

"I'll arrange to make the time, if possible." The Uchiha said, trying not to sound eager. Kisame was such a challenging opponent though… Kisame grinned up at his partner, baring all of his formidable teeth. "Come on, you said the Leader requested our retur-"

Itachi cut off as he and Kisame saw Munin descend. He held out his arm to the Raven and braced himself to accept the weight of the large bird. Munin landed as lightly as possible and made his way to Itachi's shoulder to murmur his news into his human partner's ear.

"In-ter-es-ting." Itachi murmured at the news, "Please continue as you have been. I'll call you if I need you, if that's alright."

"Of course, your credit is excellent, as always." The Raven said before being launched back into the sky.

"What's interesting?" Kisame demanded after the bird disappeared. He recognized one of Itachi's Ravens, they had been invaluable spies in the past.

"Nothing of importance," Itachi said lightly, "Let's go." With that, he raced off towards the nearest lair.

"Dammit Itachi, don't blow me off!" Kisame demanded, giving chase, "What's 'interesting'?"

"Nothing to concern you."

"_Itachi! _You damned brat!"

* * *

(Three months later)

_If I didn't know better, I'd say that the days have gained about six hours in length,_ Shikamaru sighed as he climbed the stairs to his apartment, _that or I'm just not sleeping those hours._ True to his plan, Shikamaru had moved out of his family house and had rented an apartment. But before he had done that, he'd left very, very early in the morning the day after his mother had hit him and had gone to the missions office.

The gods must have been trying to make him believe in them again, because the guy in the office wasn't anyone he knew and also didn't know who the heck Nara Shikamaru was, by sight or by reputation. The Chuunin also bought Shikamaru's cover story at face value. The Nara had claimed that he hadn't realized how low his bank account was when he'd gotten his days off, so he needed a mission and preferably one that was long in duration and thus high in pay.

The Chuunin had given Shikamaru a two and a half month mission as one of several guards for a gemstone merchant caravan. The merchants were concerned with potential robbery, and rightly so. Also, there had been shady activity with that caravan before, activity that had gotten a few officials in Konoha curious. The merchants thought that they had hired several honorable mercenaries; they didn't know that they had gotten shinobi.

It hadn't been an easy mission for Shikamaru, as he was the youngest of a group of twelve Chuunin, the next youngest being a full ten years his senior. None of them had become Chuunin on their first try, nor had they gotten a chance to even _try_ the exam as young as Shikamaru. Only two of the others seemed to have the potential to move on to Jounin. The fact that Shikamaru was a Chuunin so young and, to their eyes at least, seemed to have so much potential did not rest easy with them. That and the leader now had to come up with an excuse as to why a child was part of the guard.

The cover story involved Shikamaru gaining an older 'sister' for the duration of the mission. Neither he, nor the next youngest, a twenty-four year old kunoichi, appreciated the fact that they were 'siblings'. What they did for Konoha!

Shikamaru's relations with the rest of the team only thawed in the last two weeks of the mission. It wasn't a total lose, but it had been wearing on the youth's nerves. He was glad that it was over and was even gladder to be- it wasn't home anymore, so he was just glad that he was back in Konoha. He had much to do to settle himself in. And much to do to avoid anyone who could hurt him, again.

When he got back, he went apartment shopping and found a decent, inexpensive place that he rented while under a false name. To still get his mail, he bought a box at the Post office. To avoid hateful and pitying stares, he went to the missions office at odd hours. To avoid everyone period, he requested a mission almost as soon as he got back from one. Shikamaru knew that he was going to burn himself out soon, but he didn't care. He hurt so much less when he was working…

_Too… many… damned…Stairs!_ Shikamaru finally climbed the five flights of rickety stairs that led to his floor, the elevator hadn't worked since day one, and headed to his room. There was no one in the tacky carpeted hallway, thank gods. One of his neighbors was fifty-six year old pedophile and another was a raving lunatic who ranted about the glory of some god named Jashin. Shikamaru couldn't care less about either, except that he hated encounters with both. He entered his room, dark thanks to the lack of decent lighting, with a sigh of relief, stumbled to his bed, the only new thing in the room since he had bought it, and threw himself in it. He was so damned tired, again.

And, surprise, surprise, he was lonely. That was actually something that made him wonder. After the failed mission regarding Sasuke, Shikamaru had been lonely as one after another of his friends had deserted him in one fashion or another. But after his fight with Itachi, he hadn't been as lonely. And it was only after that fight that he had started getting those odd blank spots in his usually faultless memory. _And I only got the blanks when I was on a mission alone_.

Shikamaru hadn't been getting any blanks recently, and he was rather shocked to find that he missed them. He tried to think about them, hard, but it almost felt like his mind was getting nudged away from considering them. But he was a Nara, and all Nara's had the character trait of bone-headed stubbornness. How else could he have gone through the Academy for so many years and not learn anything useful if not through sheer stubbornness?

Beyond the similar fact that he was alone when a blank spell hit, the other thing that came from them was that he was often left with something useful. Sometimes it was a new technique that he knew he had figured out, but didn't know _how_ he had figured it out, and other times it was leftover, cooked food that was just sitting there as he woke up in the middle of a camp that he _knew_ he hadn't pitched. The other thing that they had in common was that he felt as if he had spent time with someone that understood him, and didn't blame him for his failure…

That's why he missed those blanks so much, he wanted that feeling back. And that was also probably the reason he hadn't reported those blank periods to a medic-nin. If he reported them, the Hokage may have wanted to try and find out how he was getting them. She may have tried to hospitalize him to try and see if there was a medical reason. Or she may have tried to send someone out to spy on him at a distance while he went on his solo missions, with or without his knowledge. Whatever Tsunade-sama did, it would probably stop the blank spells from returning and, well, Shikamaru didn't want that. It would take away the only thing like comfort he had left.

He hadn't heard anything from anybody, save for one letter sent to him by Asuma-sensei. It had been… very stiff and official sounding. It had felt like Asuma-sensei was trying to cut him off. Yes, Asuma-sensei had asked after Shikamaru's health and what not, but still, it had been… Cold. Very cold.

Unfortunately for Shikamaru, he didn't know that Asuma sucked at writing letters to anyone, and therefore had a very stiff and distant 'voice' in text.

The only good thing that had happened to Shikamaru in the past three months was that he'd gotten another letter from Naruto. Although, this one had left him feeling rather odd. Naruto had been full of concern and questions regarding Shikamaru's health and situation. It had once again pointed out the lack of any real concern from anyone that Shikamaru dealt with day to day. This was demonstrated dramatically in his last encounter with Kiba, Neji and Tenten. He didn't want to think about all of the not-so-subtly hidden disgust that had come from them.

The youth rolled onto his back and stared at the cracked plaster ceiling above him. He didn't have any missions lined up for today, but he did have one starting early the next morning. He really should get up and eat something, maybe see if there was hot water left in the showers and get a bath, and _then_ pass out, but right now… movement was just too troublesome. Shikamaru's eyes drifted shut and he was soon asleep.

* * *

Itachi was annoyed. Why did the Leader's idea of a quick meeting to brush up on what everyone was doing have to involve it taking _three months_? Hadn't he any concept of just how annoying all of the rest of Akastsuki got when they didn't get a chance to kill someone on a regular basis? Plus, not a single one of them was capable of a simple, intelligent, _sane_ conversation. Hence Itachi rushing off to the lands around Konoha. He was going through intelligence withdrawal, honestly.

Hugin had reported not long ago that Shikamaru- _oh dear, sweet Nine Gods, someone __**sane**_- was heading off on yet another solo information retrieval mission. He should be heading in Itachi's direction. Deciding that he was safely far enough from Konoha, Itachi started to head towards Shikamaru. He really, really missed smart and sane conversation. Kisame only just counted as 'sane' under Itachi's definition but not particularly intelligent. Deidara didn't count towards either _sane _or _smart_ at all.

The Uchiha finally spotted Shikamaru trudging down a tree lined path and felt his budding relief die a swift death. It had only been three months, how could the boy's condition have deteriorated so quickly? The Nara youth wasn't as painfully thin as he had been previously, but there was a light that had been there before that was simply gone now. The way he moved showed that he was exhausted and was probably fragile physically or mentally. Really, it didn't make much difference either way.

It was as if Shikamaru had some kind of wasting disease and was slowly dying. Itachi pretended that he hadn't gotten a cold chill at the thought. He lifted his hands and released the memory seal.

Shikamaru stumbled, tried to catch himself, but failed and fell to his knees. Then he just sat there slumped, face down turned, not even bothering to try and get up with his usual duty-bound stubbornness. This wasn't the Shikamaru that Itachi had come to know. There was something very, very wrong here.

"Shikamaru?" Itachi queried, approaching slowly.

"You again." The youth said, voice toneless, face still down turned. The Uchiha knelt just in front of him.

"Me again. Forgive me for prying, but… are you well?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just fine…" Shikamaru said listlessly, "I'm just… so tired… and…" The youth trailed off.

"'And?'" Itachi prompted gently. Shikamaru looked up slowly. There was deep pain in his eyes.

"What did I do wrong? Why do they all hate me? _What did I do wrong?!_" The words had started out as a faint whisper and had ended as a sob. Acting on fuzzy, half-remembered, old memories, Itachi reached out to rub Shikamaru's shoulder. Apparently the youth took that as an invitation and practically threw himself at Itachi, sobbing into his chest.

_Umm…_ One tenth of Itachi's mind that was not frozen in absolute, confused shock was flailing in utter panic. One did not have a young Chuunin affiliated with the enemy fling himself onto one's chest everyday, you know. And proceed to bawl his eyes out, no less. Another tenth of Itachi's mind was also flailing, but not in panic. Oh no, this portion just had to be flailing in hentai joy. Itachi made a brief mental note to burn Deidara's doujinishi whenever it was shoved to his nose again. He also decided to not acknowledge both flailing portions of his mind. Neither one was becoming of Uchiha Itachi.

Instead he started to, very awkwardly, pat Shikamaru's back in what he hoped was a soothing gesture. The youth burrowed deeper into Itachi's arms, knocking the Uchiha just enough off balance to force him to lean against a nearby tree. The first tiny corner of his mind had stopped flailing and was now wailing in confusion. The other tiny corner was cackling in glee. Itachi decided to have Mei Lin, the head medic of Akastsuki, give him a head examination once he got back. Having tiny voices like this couldn't be healthy.

He sighed and started to rub Shikamaru's back and slowly the boy calmed down, although he didn't release the death-grip he had on Itachi's cloak. And he was starting to snuggle now. _By all the gods, I don't know which one of you is watching me but thank you that there is nobody else here right now because if Deidara ever knew of this I would never live it down!_ Visions of bad doujinshi made the Uchiha shudder. Itachi refused to acknowledge that he kind of liked how it felt to have the boy cuddled against him. This was indignifying! And his cloak was not a handkerchief to be sobbed into for the Nine's sake!

Shikamaru cuddled a little closer and Itachi felt his indignation start to melt. _It's official, someone needs to kill me now. Anytime now._

"Should I inquire as to what happened?" Itachi heard himself ask. "And I don't believe that you have done anything wrong."

"Thanks. Don't want to talk 'bout it, please?" Shikamaru mumbled into Itachi's chest. Itachi tried not to twitch.

"Ah, alright…" He said, still rubbing Shikamaru's back as the youth was still sniffling. The youth sighed and leaned into him. _Not helping!_

"You're warm…" Shikamaru said in a not-quite-awake voice, "An' comfy."

_So not helping! _ "Um," How did one reply to that?

"Stay? Please?" Now that was just plain unfair, using that tone of voice on Itachi. It sounded close to how Sasuke used to sound when the annoyance was a chibi. _Crap._

"I'll stay." Itachi said somewhat reluctantly. He leaned back and attempted to make himself comfortable against the tree trunk.

"Thank you…." Shikamaru sighed and slowly went limp against Itachi. _Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap._ Shikamaru felt warm and comfortable and his outburst was awakening every single one of Itachi's protective instincts and- _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap! _He was not in the least feeling possessive over the young Nara and he most certainly was not _attracted_ to him either. Certainly _not!_

_De-ni-al. _The perverted little voice in the corner of Itachi's mind chirped.

_And I am not in denial either!_ Now to just think it and actually mean it…. Shikamaru shifted against him and made a kittenish sound. Itachi stifled a groan while the perverted thought purred in delight. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

_'You're worthless! Everyone knows it! Why do you even still bother trying to prove that your worth anything at all?!'_

Shikamaru whimpered as his mind replayed events from that morning. The night before he'd woken up at midnight, grabbed a bite to eat, sponged off quickly in lukewarm water and gone back to sleep with his alarm set to go off at five. At six a.m. he'd finally woken up to see that his alarm clock had run out of batter some time after he'd fallen asleep. He hadn't had enough time to eat breakfast or give himself a decent bath, so he'd just run to the missions office at top speed.

And then he'd very nearly run right into, literally, his mother. She was waiting to receive her mission as well. Behind her was Kiba, Neji, Tenten, and Shino; some of his least favorite people.

Shikamaru had barely had the time to take one step back before his mother had started, with clinical precision, to take him apart and verbally flay him to the bone. All the while, the other four had just watch, Kiba smirking with amusement and Neji sneering with disdain. It had not been auspicious beginning for the day. Shikamaru hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise, and the only way he'd been able to escape was that he'd seen his mission scroll on the top of the pile. He'd grabbed it and run.

By the time he'd gotten out the village gates, Shikamaru was utterly convinced he hadn't a single friend left. By the time he was two hours out, his fatigued and pessimistic mind had become convinced that he never really had a friend to begin with. Then Itachi had released the memory seal and had gently asked if he was okay. The enemy was more willing to care about him than his own comrades, and his own mother. It had been too much; Shikamaru had lunged at the offered kindness. He had needed some kind of reassurance.

Now, it was a long while later, and he wasn't sure where he was. He had been in a nightmare, but a gentle hand stroking his back soothed him out of the bad dream and into waking. He was warm, and felt very comfortable, like he was being cradled. That might be because he was. He was cradled in Itachi's arms, leaning against Itachi's chest. _Uh, this is more than a little awkward._ He looked up into his- friend's?- non-enemy's?- curious face.

"Um, hi." Shikamaru said, feeling his face burning with embarrassment.

"… Hello." Itachi said. Was that a light blush across his cheeks? Surely not. Shikamaru slowly pulled away, his ears and neck joining his face in turning bright red.

"Uh- I- um- that is- I-" The youth stammered as he scooted away and sat back on his heels.

"Indeed." The Uchiha said as he slowly unwound himself and stood. Shikamaru wouldn't have been surprised to be told that his hair was smoking from the heat of his blush.

"Are you hungry?" Itachi asked as he walked towards a more open area a short ways away, limping almost imperceptibly from a leg cramp. Shikamaru nodded, eyes still focused on a rock, ears and neck still a painfully bright red. "I'll fix something for you then."

"You don't- I mean I- The mission- I should be-" Shikamaru looked up at his not-enemy trying to find a good argument, locked gazes with the Uchiha, turned beet red again and resumed his study of that fascinating rock.

"You should be eating healthy food and permitting yourself time to get a full rest, or else you will burn yourself out and deny your village your services." Itachi pointed out for what was probably the tenth time in their association. Shikamaru couldn't bring himself to argue this time, hadn't he realized earlier that he was on a straight path to sending himself to the hospital thanks to exhaustion? Also, he was still too embarrassed to argue. How could he have- have _flung_ himself into Itachi? That was- that was-

_Really nice._ A perverted section of Shikamaru's mind commented. Shikamaru's ears burned worse. He had known for a very long time that girls simply didn't interest him the way boys did. Ino hadn't excited him in the least. Chouji had been his first crush. Naruto was his current crush, or had been. Itachi was- he was-

_Really, really hot. _ That perverted section of his mind commented again. There was no denying that Itachi was _very_ easy on the eyes… With an effort of will, Shikamaru dragged his mind out of the path it was on, straight to the gutter, and stood up to follow Itachi. It took three tries before he was able to get to his feet.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked the Uchiha humbly. Itachi was using his hunting jutsu again and paused for a moment to study his current companion. Shikamaru was still more than a little flustered looking, but coherent.

"If you could get the fire going, it would be appreciated." Itachi said, smoothly continuing to pretend the scene earlier just hadn't happened. Shikamaru decided to follow his example.

"Sure thing." He replied and started to do just that. It didn't take much effort to gather enough sticks and small branches from the cluttered natural clearing to make a small fire. Gathering stones to line the fire with was equally easy. Getting the fire going was another matter entirely.

Itachi had finished his hunting jutsu and was watching Shikamaru's efforts with amusement as he awaited the results. The young Nara was using every single word in the four-letter language as he tried to get the fire going. He'd forgotten to check his fire starting kit at the start of this mission to see if he had enough matches, and he whole three that he had had left were now lying burnt and shriveled in the pile of kindling leaves and moss. The sparks that he was throwing with his flint and steel were refusing to catch.

"Would you care for some help?" Itachi asked finally. As amusing as it was to watch the youth's efforts, raw rabbit was a dish that Itachi really wasn't in a hurry to try.

"No, it's personal now- aha!" A spark had landed in the dry moss and started a tinny, tiny flame. Gently, almost tenderly, Shikamaru nursed the tiny fire, feeding it leaves and splinters as if slowly grew. Well, it would have been tender and gently if not for the language that the Nara was still employing. After several moments of coaxing and swearing, a small campfire was soon crackling strongly and Shikamaru sat near it triumphantly.

"Ha, I win." He said. Itachi snorted and spitted the rabbits that he'd caught, killed and gutted while Shikamaru had 'battled' the fire. "I'd like to see you do better!" Shikamaru growled, miffed at Itachi's snort. Getting the campfire going was one of the harder chores that Team 10 had had, when they were still a functional team.

Itachi gave Shikamaru a look, made a few hand signs and blew out a tiny stream of fire. Shikamaru glared without heat and grumbled about cheats and jutsus and how it wasn't _his_ fault that he didn't have a lot of fire in his nature or his sensei's nature, so how was he to use a technique he'd never been taught?

"Would you like for me to teach you that one?" Itachi asked as he set the rabbits to cook by the fire.

"Would you mind?" Shikamaru replied, somewhat eager. If he knew that jutsu, setting up camp would be so much easier.

"I wouldn't have offered, if I minded." The Uchiha said, and proceeded to explain the simple technique that only Uchiha's had known. It still gave Itachi some vindictive pleasure to share Uchiha clan secret techniques, even so simple a one as this. The description of the technique led into a discussion about elemental Justus and then naturally turned into a philosophical debate into the theories behind the all Justus.

The rabbits were cooked and eaten while the two exchanged theories and countering points, mulling over ideas while they chewed. Naturally, Itachi had more theories than Shikamaru, but the younger of the two had some good counters and additives that Itachi hadn't considered before. Both geniuses were secretly delighted to find someone who was not only interested in the topic, but understood the theories as well. Sunset caught them both very much by surprise, as did the realization that they were both hungry. The rabbits, eaten around eleven, had become bones a long time ago.

"Uh, yeah, so you got lunch. Want me to catch dinner?" Shikamaru asked, not particularly eager to have Itachi leave. Itachi blinked and turned to the smoldering remains of the fire.

"That would be appreciated." He said, reviving the tiny blaze. He wasn't all that eager to leave either. The rogue Uchiha was far more interested in staying with the only person he'd ever met that was his intellectual peer. Finally, sane, intelligent company!

* * *

A.S.: Got no excuses, I'm just late. Lot of stuff happened this summer, and I'm just late. Granddad's Ninety now, cousin stayed over for six weeks, got a new kitten, worked forty hour weeks all summer, and I'm just late. Gomen y'all, and thank you for your patience. Here's a free whiffle bat, don't hesitate to hit me in the future for late updates.

Also, check out A Different Path for more Itachi/Shika/Naruto interaction. Oh and Shisui, you can't miss him. Although I think Itachi wished he could ;)

Oh, and a question for y'all: Is Itachi really OOC or believable? I'm trying to keep him IC but sometimes it's hard with the situations my evil imagination comes up with for him. Let me know if you think he's okay or not, and it not, how and which way and I'll see if I can fix it. Arigatou! Ja Ne


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